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 ]
A bookseller in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, has launched a crowdfund to donate books to children who receive free school meals. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-28 17:56:42 UTC ]
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Some fun news (thank goodness!): China’s first 3D-printed bookstore has just been built in Shanghai and is scheduled to open to the public at the end of January. With a floor area of thirty square meters, it can accommodate fifteen readers at a time. The bookstore is in Wisdom Bay Innovation... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-28 16:35:33 UTC ]
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Given that we’re all justifiably afraid about the breath of others right now, it’s a weird time to be dating. While the warmer months at least offered the possibility of outdoor meetings, now it’s winter and, like all other things, dating has become an exercise in futility and endless Zoom... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-28 15:42:07 UTC ]
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If you’re on the hunt for new literary rabbit holes, today is your lucky day. The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction, created by lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower (a former editor of both the OED and Random House Dictionaries) is “a comprehensive quotation-based dictionary of the language of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-27 16:14:09 UTC ]
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More than twenty years ago, walking into a foreign bookstore in Tokyo, the first thing I noted was a slightly musty yet soothing scent. It came from the paper used for these books and magazines, which had been shipped from overseas—the paper either thicker or thinner, and certainly rougher, than... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-27 09:48:22 UTC ]
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Hannah Bright is returning to the publishing industry, joining the Midas books team as senior accounts manager from mid February. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-26 01:26:23 UTC ]
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How one bookseller found herself idiotsplaining a certain bookstore bathroom predicament to the legendary musician Lou Reed. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-01-25 11:34:00 UTC ]
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Before I spotted Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia on the shelves of a Borders bookstore near my Pennsylvania college, I had never seen a book about a Saudi woman before. Princess, according to its book jacket, which featured a fully veiled woman in high heels, was... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-25 09:48:19 UTC ]
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It’s rare to see Raven Leilani’s Luster next to Doctor De Soto, William Steig’s children’s book about a mouse that performs dental surgery—but this is par for the course at Oh Hello Again, Seattle’s newest bookshop. Oh Hello Again, rather than shelving books by genre and author, categorizes... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-22 16:19:24 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House owner Bertelsmann has extended Thomas Rabe’s contract as chairman and c.e.o. for another five years. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-21 01:01:48 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan's Lucy Jones give The Bookseller an insight into her role as UK sales key account executive. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-18 02:02:49 UTC ]
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The bookseller has hired Emily Meehan as publisher and chief creative officer of Sterling Publishing in what it called part of a relaunch of its publishing division. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-01-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Patrick Nolan has been promoted to publisher of Penguin Books, among several other role changes at Penguin Random House imprint Viking Penguin. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-01-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House has named David Drake, Scott Shannon, Kara Welsh, and Chris Jackson to new roles with expanded responsibilities, among others. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-01-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Notorious fake journalist and target of deadly vegan milkshakes Andy Ngo has a new book coming out called “something something Antifa is under your bed” or some shit; after a small protest yesterday at Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon (where Ngo is from), the store—which is one of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-12 15:29:06 UTC ]
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In an open letter published on the company's website, PRH UK c.e.o. Tom Weldon has expressed confidence in the industry's prospects on entering a third lockdown, and revealed Penguin Random House UK is donating a further 15,000 more books to communities most affected by the coronavirus... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-12 10:23:48 UTC ]
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Interviews Barbara Epler started working at New Directions after graduating from college in 1984, and she has been its president and publisher since 2011. In 2015 Poets & Writers awarded Epler their Editor’s Prize, and in 2016 Words Without Borders... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-01-11 14:39:22 UTC ]
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Senior figures from across the publishing industry have shared their predictions for the year ahead with The Bookseller, with support for high-street retailers and further implementation of diversity practices cited as essential steps. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-07 21:52:12 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House Children’s Books has scooped Lies Like Wildfire, the “compulsive and explosive” debut YA novel from Jennifer Lynn Alvarez. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-07 03:46:12 UTC ]
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THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT is the opening section from chapter three of my book in progress, Unpacking My Father’s Bookstore, a memoir and critical study about growing up in my father’s Jewish bookstore. As Harelick and Roth Books and then J. Roth / Bookseller of Fine & Scholarly Judaica, the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-06 16:00:43 UTC ]
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