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 ]
The Black, Indigenous, and people of color-focused bookstore in Pasadena, California opened to customers lined up around the block. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-20 14:38:53 UTC ]
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The American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute conference convened in Seattle, the first such event since 2020. Four days of events began with city-wide bookstore tours, a meeting of independent publishers and networking receptions. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Months after a federal court ruling blocked the Penguin Random House deal, the publisher Simon & Schuster is once again up for sale. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-14 17:17:54 UTC ]
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When publishers Rare Bird and Unnamed Press moved into Highland Park, North Figueroa Bookshop soon followed, putting down roots in a bookstore-starved neighbohood. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-02-14 14:00:08 UTC ]
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Russell Books in a third-generation family bookstore in Victoria, BC. On Wednesday, $55,000 in antiquarian books were stolen in a break-in. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-10 15:03:28 UTC ]
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The author of “How to Sell a Haunted House” learned the hard way that standing at the front of a mostly empty bookstore is no fun. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-09 10:00:26 UTC ]
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Nothing prepared me for revisiting the most painful times of my life – then being criticised for it. We need industry-wide guidelines to helpI called her Terri The World Gets. She was the outward-facing me, the woman I’d spent decades curating. And Terri The World Gets was about to be rocketed... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-08 08:00:10 UTC ]
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Every bookstore has regulars, but no bookstore has such a wide and eccentric cast of recurring characters as New York’s Strand. To work there, as I did for one memorable year, is to know them: the sellers, the hagglers, the unyielding optimists checking in at the information desk for the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-07 09:57:29 UTC ]
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This year's American Booksellers will open on February 20 in Seattle with a range of bookstore tours introducing booksellers to an assortment of the city’s independent shops. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Two CEOs have stepped down. A storied executive has retired. And a big legal loss isn't entirely in the rearview. This year, the U.S. book market's biggest publisher is planning some major structural changes. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Lorenzo Carcaterra looks back at nearly a quarter century working with the retired Random House editor. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House Audio has acquired Playaway Products, a producer of physical audio players and tablets preloaded with content. Launched in 2005 and based in Solon, Ohio, the company offers 36,000 titles and works with some 40,000 libraries and institutions. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors, booksellers, publishers, distributors, and others with ties to the book industry are invited to nominate their favorite bookstores and sales representatives for PW's annual Bookstore and Sales Rep of the Year Awards. Deadline for submissions is March 1. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The Duffer Brothers, creators of the Netflix hit 'Stranger Things,' were big fans of the Choose Your Own Adventure middle grade series and a tie-in based on the fourth season of the show is coming from Random House in April. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-01 05:00:00 UTC ]
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About three weeks after Gina Centrello retired as president and publisher of the Random House Publishing Group, McIntosh announced that she will step down as CEO of Penguin Random House in the very near future. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The well-connected publishing executive provides a top-down look at the industry—and more than a few harsh appraisals of notable peers—in a new memoir. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-27 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Following a down year for print book sales, NPD Group's publishing industry analyst, Kristen McLean, predicts that 2023 will be a year of transition for the publishing industry. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-27 05:00:00 UTC ]
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If you thought "teens can get those $15.99 YA paperbacks from the library," you've missed the fact that book bans mean they can't. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-01-26 11:38:00 UTC ]
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The world’s fastest-selling memoir is merely an episode in a soap opera in the Sussexes’ adopted Californian hometownOn the day Prince Harry’s controversial, headline-grabbing memoir Spare officially became the fastest-selling non-fiction book in history, the bookstore in his adoptive hometown... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-01-21 14:25:09 UTC ]
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“I never thought I’d be one of those people,” she said. T Kira Madden and I were sitting in the private room of a fancy strip-mall restaurant in Albany, New York, and I was eating a very expensive salad. Earlier that afternoon, we had given a reading at a local bookstore with T Kira’s... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-01-19 12:05:00 UTC ]
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