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 ]
Just one week remains until the Bookseller Marketing & Publicity Conference 2020, themed How We Work Now and tackling the challenges presented by our post-Covid world. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-26 00:05:47 UTC ]
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It was my best case scenario. Not only did Edward Vaughn pick up the phone, but he was willing and eager to speak. At 85 years old, he had way more energy than me, 60 years his junior, when I called him earlier this week. (An unfortunate cocktail of technological failure and fanboyish... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-25 14:02:32 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House is hoping to alleviate a significant source of stress for independent booksellers by launching its annual 2-Day Transit Program on July 1, two months ahead of schedule. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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I purchased an independent bookstore in Salisbury, North Carolina just six months ago, after taking leave from my career as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State. After tours in Afghanistan, India, and other cities overseas, I was eager to give my four-year-old daughter... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-23 17:42:00 UTC ]
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This week, Louise Candlish is publishing her latest novel The Other Passenger, the first title in her latest two-book deal with Simon & Schuster UK. She spoke to The Bookseller on Twitter about her new book, her influences and her past successes. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-23 00:11:29 UTC ]
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A group of B2B publishers and ad tech firms are banding together to curtail the harvesting of publisher-specific data from online ad auctions by third-parties, a practice they argue is an unauthorized breach which places their relationships with their audiences at risk. Referred to as data... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2020-06-17 21:29:40 UTC ]
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Responding to the newly formed Black Writers’ Guild, all five of the biggest publishers say they will make more room for black authors and staffThe “big five” UK publishing houses have separately acknowledged that “change is not happening fast enough” and that they must do a lot more to address... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-06-17 12:45:22 UTC ]
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The social media campaign could force publishers to focus on black writers by encouraging readers to buy their booksCould the New York Times’ Best Seller book list ever be filled entirely by black authors?As industries undergo reckonings around race, in the wake of international demonstrations... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-06-17 10:00:17 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House plans to reopen its Colchester distribution centre next week after the facility was closed late last month for a systems upgrade. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-16 18:41:00 UTC ]
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I want to acknowledge that my experience as a South Asian is not the same as those of Black people in this country. Although it’s important to note that we may have some shared experiences, the current BLM protests are about Black Lives, and it’s crucial to know the difference. However, the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-15 19:31:29 UTC ]
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An awesome daily roundup of the most interesting bookish links from around the web. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-06-14 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Sales at Eso Won Books in Los Angeles and other Black bookstores have skyrocketed as Americans seek to educate themselves about the Black experience. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-06-12 19:36:21 UTC ]
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Sales at Eso Won Books in Los Angeles and other Black bookstores have skyrocketed as Americans seek to educate themselves about the Black experience. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-06-12 19:36:21 UTC ]
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Sales at Eso Won Books in Los Angeles and other Black bookstores have skyrocketed as Americans seek to educate themselves about the Black experience. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-06-12 19:36:00 UTC ]
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Many governors across the United States have been eager to the begin the multiphase reopening of businesses, but many bookstore owners are acting more cautiously than state guidelines recommend. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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As Black Lives Matter protests take place across the world, the publishing world is rushing to support those ‘ignored by the mainstream’. Who is the mainstream, then?The publishing industry is stilted and archaic. I worked in it for seven years, and left due to reasons I can’t legally talk... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-06-11 09:44:22 UTC ]
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I am a Black author and publisher in an industry that is dominated by white people. Black Lives Matter is not a hashtag. It is a movement that will carry on until we have seen real change. It is being said time and time again but there is still not enough representation in the publishing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-11 01:22:51 UTC ]
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Author Dorothy Koomson has written an open letter to the publishing industry, in which she describes it as a “hostile environment for Black authors”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-10 06:37:48 UTC ]
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"Eager" customers have "welcomed" the opening of bookstores in Ireland this week, The Bookseller has heard. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-10 05:57:23 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House Audio is bringing together wellbeing experts, including fitness author Chloe Madeley and performance coach Sara Milne Rowe, in a new audio anthology, The Here and Now. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-09 10:56:54 UTC ]
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