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 ]
David Whitaker, a former editor of The Bookseller, has died. Whitaker died peacefully in his sleep overnight on 4th August, his widow Maggie Van Reenan has confirmed. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-05 11:21:27 UTC ]
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UCLan Publishing has acquired the “funny and heart-warming” first teen novel from author and bookseller Katie Clapham. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-01 09:31:26 UTC ]
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Well, this is kind of heartwarming. A full quarter-century after shuttering his old store in Bloomington, Indiana, Rick Morgenstern has opened what suddenly becomes the state’s largest independent bookstore. The reboot of the eponymous store has been in the works for years and is reopening in a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-28 18:29:10 UTC ]
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The polite, white middle-class mass that encompasses most of the publishing industry doesn’t hold prejudice against foreigners, probably voted Remain, and yet they will still shut the door in your face. If you’re not British and middle-class, the chances are that you won’t understand the subtle... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-27 06:45:54 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House announced this morning that the upcoming collection of poetry by Amanda Gorman is now titled 'Call Us What We Carry.' It will be released on December 7, and will feature new works as well as her inauguration poem, 'The Hill We Climb.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In late May, over the Memorial Day weekend, the top story on NBC’s Meet the Press was a recent vote by Republican senators to kill the prospect of an independent, fully bipartisan commission to investigate the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6. (Six Republicans backed the commission, but... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-07-26 12:44:33 UTC ]
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The California Independent Booksellers Alliance announced that Ann Seaton, CALIBA’s former director of operations and Kristin Rasmussen, general manager of {pages} a bookstore in Manhattan Beach, have been appointed coexecutive directors of the association. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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After four moves and 43 years as a hub for children’s books and visits by local and nationally renowned authors, The Children’s Bookstore is closing. Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2021-07-23 20:26:06 UTC ]
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Simon Akam says Penguin Random House cancelled his book about the British army, The Changing of the Guard, and demanded back his advance after he refused to let the MoD vet itIn the summer of 2015, journalist Simon Akam was thrilled when Penguin Random House (PRH) imprint William Heinemann won a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-07-23 13:00:54 UTC ]
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Emily St. John Mandel's 'Sea of Tranquility' goes to Knopf's Jenny Jackson, Prince Harry sold a currently untitled memoir to Random House, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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While the publishing industry had a relatively stable 2020 and a pretty sunny 2021 thus far, we are definitely not out of the woods yet, not with the mutating virus around. For Hong Kong/China print manufacturers, pandemic-induced challenges outside of their control are hampering the efforts to... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Rock legend Bruce Springsteen and former President Barack Obama have written a book based on their podcast conversations, to be published globally by Penguin Random House in partnership with Higher Ground. The book chronicles, as Obama said in the book’s introduction, the men’s “shared... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-22 15:49:00 UTC ]
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Last week, Guto Harri, an anchor on GB News, in the United Kingdom, addressed a pressing news story: the racist abuse that Black English players faced following the final of the European soccer championships, which England lost, and the broader debate around the players’ practice of taking a... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-07-20 12:38:46 UTC ]
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One avid reader on why being taken to the bookstore is way more anxiety-producing than it is enjoyable. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-07-20 10:32:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House said the book, tentatively coming in 2022, would be “an intimate and heartfelt memoir from one of the most fascinating and influential global figures of our time.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-07-19 20:26:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House announces book is expected in late 2022 with proceeds going to charityThe Duke of Sussex has agreed a publishing deal to write his memoirs and said he would do so “not as the prince I was born, but as the man I have become”.The global deal for his “literary memoir” was... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-07-19 18:37:55 UTC ]
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Random House expects to release the book, currently untitled, late in 2022. Continue reading at The Huffington Post
[ The Huffington Post | 2021-07-19 18:07:22 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House has bought global rights to "a literary memoir" from Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, "tentatively scheduled" for publication in late 2022, the publisher has confirmed. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-19 14:21:51 UTC ]
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S&S Books for Young Readers buys a middle grade series from Dan & Jason, Somali British poet Warsan Shire sells her debut collection to Random House, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Culture Adrian Aguilera (Mexican, b. 1981) and Betelhem Makonnen (Ethiopian American, b. 1972), untitled (a flag for John Lewis or a green screen placeholder for an America that is yet to be), 2020 (installation view). Printed standard flag fabric,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-07-15 19:45:53 UTC ]
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