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 quick update on the tumultuous recent history of Barnes and Noble, and where the bookstore chain might be headed under new ownership. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-08-27 10:33:29 UTC ]
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A Big Green Bookshop crowdfunder to get copy of climate activist Greta Thunberg's book into schools across the UK has raised more than £11,000 in a month, with Penguin Random House matching copies raised and creating an accompanying classroom pack. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-27 01:46:04 UTC ]
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Amazon, apparently intent on fostering the illest of will among book lovers, is opening a store directly across the street from Nashville’s Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore founded by Ann Patchett and Karen Hayes in 2011. (Full disclosure: I visited the store for the first time this... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-26 16:58:35 UTC ]
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A heart-warming love letter to books and bookshops, by an amenable fellow turned antisocial old misanthrope“I was in here two years ago and you had a book by Roger Penrose. Do you know what happened to it?” Shaun Bythell – owner of the Book Shop in Wigtown, Galloway – has 100,000 books in stock,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-08-24 10:58:38 UTC ]
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At China's Asian Bookstore Forum in Xi'an, researchers cited a sharp shift, book sales moving quickly away from physical stores and over to online retail. The post Asian Bookstore Forum 2019: The Retail Context in China Today appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-08-23 05:30:19 UTC ]
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Orion scooped two prizes at The Book Marketing Society’s latest seasonal awards, with wins for Penguin Random House and Pan Macmillan too. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-23 01:57:04 UTC ]
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In this new era of mutual assistancem a bookseller offers his advice to Amazon regarding the counterfeit books issue. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-08-22 11:00:16 UTC ]
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Bookselling Without Borders has given US booksellers international industry contacts, and now a retailer from Germany will be at the ABA's Winter Institute. The post German Bookseller Florian Valerius Is a 2020 Fellow for ABA Winter Institute appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-08-22 05:30:29 UTC ]
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In late October 2017, as the sexual-abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein reverberated across the landscape of American power, five women told CNN’s Oliver Darcy that Mark Halperin, a high-profile political journalist, had harassed them at work. The allegations dated to Halperin’s time at... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2019-08-20 12:12:10 UTC ]
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A little additional advice to self-published authors on maintaining successful relationships with indie booksellers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-08-19 12:00:51 UTC ]
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I own a 19-year-old copy of Vladimir Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading. I place its age from the barcode on its back, which states the name of the bookstore where I bought it: Borders.The one that used to sit on the ground floor of the World Trade Center, the one I’d been to multiple times […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-19 08:50:43 UTC ]
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At a shop that at times functioned as a sanctuary after the Tree of Life shooting, the owner sees his job as “a moral obligation.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-08-18 09:00:09 UTC ]
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The fake author who fooled the publishing world is brought back to life in a diverting tale that treads familiar ground“Sometimes, a lie’s more truth than the truth,” drawls author JT Leroy, speaking down a crackling telephone line. This straightforward dramatisation of Savannah Knoop’s 2008... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-08-18 07:00:10 UTC ]
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Penguin group rejects claim of censorship after halting publication of Simon Akam’s The Changing of the GuardAfter beating four other publishing houses in an auction, William Heinemann was in no doubt that The Changing of the Guard would more than reward the five-figure advance it paid to its... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-08-18 06:59:05 UTC ]
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In pushing the romance genre aside, Australia’s publishing industry sent its most successful writers to pursue their careers abroadNalini Singh is trying to convince me to read a love story starring bears. The tiny author is tucked up under a huge scarf in a cafe on a freezing August day in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-08-17 22:00:54 UTC ]
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Four publishing industry figures pay tribute to and share their recollections of acclaimed author and the first African-American Nobel Laureate, Toni Morrison. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-15 22:10:49 UTC ]
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One of the most interesting things about book publishing, as an industry, is the way imprints and publishing houses develop over time—shifting focus to keep up with public interest, taking on personalities along with personnel, changing hands ad nauseam and merging like no one’s watching.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-15 09:36:09 UTC ]
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Literary agents are gatekeepers of the publishing industry, and more than 50 literary agents and editors will be listening to pitches at the 2019 Writer's Digest Annual Conference as part of its popular Pitch Slam program. Here are a few Pitch Slam agents who have been featured on Publishing... Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-08-14 13:31:11 UTC ]
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For a second year, the Hay Festival works with a Dallas bookstore to stage a smaller event parallel to the Hay's Mexico festival at Querétaro. The post Hay ‘Forum’ Dallas Programming Announced for September appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-08-14 05:50:28 UTC ]
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In a first-time focus on the Middle East's publishing industry, the International Publishers Association is planning a regional event in the Jordanian capital. The post IPA Outlines a First Middle East Regional Seminar in Amman appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-08-13 13:55:30 UTC ]
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