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 ]
DBW's final day looked at a recent study of publishing industry startups and found that innovation takes all forms, from wildly successful ideas that took time to take off, like Audible, to cutting edge innovations, like blockchain book retailing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
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DBW's final day looked at a recent study of publishing industry startups and found that innovation takes all forms, from wildly successful ideas that took time to take off, like Audible, to cutting edge innovations, like blockchain book retailing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Greenlight Bookstore welcomes Will Alexander, finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, to introduce Divine Blue Light, his new collection of poems from the intersection between surrealism and afro-futurism, where Césaire meets Sun Ra. Will Alexander’s poems constitute an alternative... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-12 09:52:43 UTC ]
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Centrello, head of the Random House Publishing Group (“Little Random”) since 2003, has retired. In her memo to employees, PRH CEO Madeline McIntosh said she will take her time in developing a plan to find Centrello's successor. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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An independent book shop in Wiltshire, England has become an internet hit after its creative window display of the Duke of Sussex's memoir. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2023-01-10 19:17:34 UTC ]
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Remember Ray’s Occult Books, the rundown Manhattan bookstore opened by an unmoored Ray Stantz between Ghostbusters I and II following the city of New York serving him and his fellow ghostbusters with a judicial restraining order for the property damage incurred during their city-saving battle... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-09 16:53:03 UTC ]
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With its bookstore on the ground floor and its library upstairs, India's Trilogy serves a loyal following: 'Getting books is our only headache.' The post Mumbai’s Bookstore and Library Trilogy: An Eighth Anniversary appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-01-09 13:28:28 UTC ]
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Welcome to our biannual Great Book Preview! We’ve assembled the best books of 2023A (that is, the first half of 2023), including new work from Nicole Chung, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Claire Dederer, Brian Dillon, Samantha Irby, Heidi Julavits, Catherine Lacy, Mario Vargas Llosa, Rebecca Makkai,... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2023-01-09 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Vampires and ghosts have long haunted popular fiction, but now a string of new releases is focusing on marginalised women with hidden powersSomeone, or something, shadowy has put a strong spell on popular literature aimed at women, once cheekily labelled “chick lit”. This perky genre, packaged... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-01-08 12:00:47 UTC ]
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Her Denver bookstore, the Tattered Cover, was among the country’s best, and she often found herself in the midst of First Amendment fights. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-07 20:10:30 UTC ]
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Random House buys a memoir from Ketanji Brown Jackson, Katee Robert sells the first three in a series to Berkley, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The bookstore chain has announced the first-ever BookTok Festival will be held at its flagship store in New York City's Union Square on February 4. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Here’s a piece of good literary news to start the year: a new independent bookstore named after the legendary Octavia E. Butler is opening in Pasadena, California, where the late Sci-Fi icon was born and raised. I took the leap and quit my job to open my very own bookstore. Octavia’s Bookshelf... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-03 17:31:27 UTC ]
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The Prix Voltaire-winning Cairo publisher and bookseller Khaled Lotfy was released from prison, the IPA reports, on November 19. The post Egypt’s IPA Prix Voltaire Laureate Khaled Lotfy Out of Prison appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-01-03 05:05:52 UTC ]
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As the cofounder of BookXcess and Big Bad Wolf, Andrew Yap is the most powerful bookseller you likely don’t know. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-30 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Imagine walking into a bookstore looking for books with a bonkers plot when you see it: the Bananapants Plot section. A dream! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-27 11:35:00 UTC ]
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Joyce Meskis, the long-time owner of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Col., has died. She was 80 years old. Meskis was known as an innovative indie bookseller and a champion of free speech. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-27 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Joyce Meskis, the long-time owner of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, has died. She was 80 years old. Meskis was known as an innovative indie bookseller and a champion of free speech. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-27 05:00:00 UTC ]
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With sales in the adult books and children’s/young adult categories falling 16.4% and 9.9%, respectively, total industry sales dropped 9.3% in October from a year ago for the 1,370 publishers that report results to AAP’s StatShot program. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-22 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books bookstore chain in Miami, has launched HUBB — Helping Ukrainian Books and Booksellers. Together with a group of literary friends and booksellers, HUBB is sending its first grant of $10,000 this week. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-21 05:00:00 UTC ]
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