Cultural Cross Sections Elena Poniatowska In this column that originally appeared in La Jornada, Elena Poniatowska considers the role of editors and talks with Diego Rabasa, founder of publisher Sexto Piso. Already precarious, the pandemic lockdown has made the plight of independent publishers and bookstores in Mexico in light of Covid-19 even more acute. To be an editor is to answer the call of the gods. It’s a vocation, a ministry, an immense privilege, to enter the Olympus of literature. To be an editor is to pick those who have talent and launch them. To be a publisher is to foretell: this one will make it. It’s also to disappoint and reject. I recall the Dutch printer Alexander Stolz in Mexico holding out to me his exquisite edition of Benjamin Constant’s Adolphe, as if it were a diamond, at the Fondo de Cultura Económica, and the paternal care that Arnaldo Orfila Reynal took with the anguished palavering of Fernando del Paso. To be an editor is to be a psychologist and to be bewildered as to how to treat each creature-author. Vicente Rojo was my editor, and we have loved each other deeply since, but I never gave him trouble. What must that genius from Pachuca named Yuri Herrera be like? What’s his soft spot? I have to handle Carlos Montemayor with kid gloves because he’s unpredictable. Federico Alvarez, director of the FCE in Spain, told me that seeing Elena Garro and Helena Paz enter the FCE in Madrid was like falling into... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-03 21:05:48 UTC ]
Digital editions, the oft-dubbed Wild West of the publishing world, may be charted in the near future. Many publishers are investing large amounts of time and resources to navigating user behavior in tablet editions of magazines, and this data is being used in a variety of ways. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Since social media was identified as a relevant tool to the publishing industry, magazine publishers have devoted many resources and an abundance of energy to finding and implementing the best strategies to solidify a presence in the sphere. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 08/07/2011 - 13:33 Suffolk County Council has drawn up plans to put the financial management and staffing of its libraries under a central organisation in a bid to reduce costs and save any libraries from closure. Ideas for how the "vision"... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 08/07/2011 - 08:40 Will Sulkin will be retiring from his role as publishing director of The Bodley Head in April 2012, with Stuart Williams, editorial director at Harvill Secker, to step into the position. Sulkin's retirement in 2012 will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Arts editor Will Gompertz's second report into the impact of technology on the publishing industry Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2011-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 21/06/2011 - 08:32 Penguin General has combined its publicity and marketing teams into a single communications department, with publicity director Amelia Fairney becoming communications director of Penguin General. The role of marketing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 09/06/2011 - 09:19 Private equity firm Najafi Companies is reportedly in discussions to buy Borders in America. The Wall Street Journal said "people familiar with the matter" said the firm, which usually makes investments of $1bn or less, is in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It's been two years since PW took the first snapshot of the publishing world on Twitter. In May 2009 we looked at the followings 16 imprints and publishers had on the social networking site. At the time, a lot of imprints weren't even on Twitter, and we thought the word "twittering" was an... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 03/06/2011 - 09:58 Hodder & Stoughton has signed a three-book deal with thriller writer Tom Harper, marking the author's move from Random House's Cornerstone. Associate publisher Oliver Johnson signed the deal for world rights through... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 26/05/2011 - 08:47 Random House Digital director Fionnuala Duggan is to leave the publisher for digital learning company CourseSmart, where she has been appointed managing director for international. The California-based company, which provides... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is the time ripe to place a bet on a brighter and profitable future for the grand dame of the publishing world? Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 23/05/2011 - 09:40 The takeover of Waterstone's by Alexander Mamut is cause for celebration among the publishing industry, Faber c.e.o. Stephen Page has said. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 09:06 The Bodley Head has acquired a title looking at the operation that searched for, and finally killed, Osama bin Laden, by al-Qaeda expert Peter Bergen. Publishing director Will Sulkin acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The editor Robert Loomis, who is retiring from Random House after 54 years, is known for nurturing writers including Maya Angelou, William Styron, Shelby Foote and Calvin Trillin. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 09/05/2011 - 08:51 Random House is publishing its first "instant ebook exclusive" with William Heinemann's rapid response to the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Beyond Bin Laden: The Future of Terror will be published tomorrow... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House has acquired Smashing Ideas, a digital media agency, in an effort to strengthen its digital publishing side, the publisher said on Thursday. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 05/05/2011 - 15:40 Bertelsmann has acquired digital media agency Smashing Ideas, with the aim of beefing up Random House Inc's digital offerings. The terms of the acquisition were not made public. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Nobles advertising campaign for the Nook Color, an e-reading tablet, features no company stores in the ads, a nod to changes in the publishing industry. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Tue, 12/04/2011 - 17:05 Editors from Simon & Schuster, Atlantic, Random House and Meadowside Children's Books have made it onto the shortlist for the 2011 Kim Scott Walwyn Prize. The award recently refocused its criteria, teaming up with the Society of Young Publishers... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two divisions of Random House that exist across the pond from each other are launching a fiction imprint that will share a close but non-exclusive editorial relationship. The Crown Publishing Group in the U.S. and Chatto & Windus, an imprint of Vintage Publishing, which is a division of The... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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