My friend Mary Cowan, who has died aged 99, rebelled against her privileged background and in the 1930s became a communist.She was born in Edinburgh, where her father, John Jameson, was the Conservative MP for Edinburgh West. Her mother, Margaret (nee Smith), was the daughter of a master of Balliol College, Oxford. Descended from the Forster family which had owned Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, Mary and her cousins lived in the castle during holidays.In the 1930s Mary married Anthony Cowan. After the second world war they moved to Newton, near Edinburgh, where Mary raised their four children. With little formal schooling, mainly having been tutored at home, Mary read widely and grew critical of the role of British imperialism in the Middle East and Africa, no doubt influenced by her cousins Thomas and Edward Hodgkin, authors respectively of books on Africa and Palestine.She became active in the Medical Aid Committee for Vietnam, and in her 60s went to work in Vietnam, a country she felt great sympathy for as it emerged from the war. Mary admired the resilience and fortitude of the Vietnamese people. She was much valued for her work translating Vietnamese poetry from French into English; these and some of her own poems have been published, the latter in Singing in Tune with Time: Stories and Poems about Ageing (1993) and in the Scottish magazine Cencrastus.A keen reader of the Morning Star, Mary supported progressive, anti-imperialist change everywhere – in Cuba,... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
Betty Miles, the pioneering feminist author of more than 25 books for children and young adults, died on July 19 at the age of 90. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ditko, who was best known as co-creator of the iconic superhero Spider-Man, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment June 29. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Elsevier officials have announced that Karen Hunter, who retired in 2010 as Elsevier's senior v-p of global academic and customer relations, has died. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The charismatic and profoundly influential publisher is remembered by Profile Books m.d. Andrew Franklin. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Richard Peck, winner of the Newbery Medal and widely acclaimed for his realistic YA novels, died May 23 at his home in New York City following a long illness; he was 84. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Charismatic publisher who combined erudition with commercial savvy to turn Penguin Books into a global brandIn 1978 Peter Mayer, who has died aged 82, was drafted in from the US to rescue a moribund Penguin Books. He took the beloved but by then loss-making publisher and turned it into a global... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Esteemed children’s book editor and publisher Ann Durell died at her home in Manhattan on May 6; she was 87. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author and illustrator Alice Provensen, who with her late husband Martin Provensen illustrated more than 40 books and won a Caldecott Medal and Caldecott Honor before starting a solo career, died on April 23 at 99. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author and illustrator Anne Rockwell, celebrated for her many informational picture books for very young children, died of natural causes on April 10. She was 85. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Poet Sam Hamill, the founding editor of poetry publisher Copper Canyon Press, died on April 14 at his home in Anacortes, Wash., after a series of health complications. He was 74. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Children’s book marketing director Mimi Kayden, whose tenure at Dutton and Penguin Young Readers lasted 28 years, died on April 16 following a brief illness; she was 84. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Professional musician with a second career heading the publishing company Victor GollanczLivia Gollancz, who has died aged 97, was one of the first women to head a publishing company, serving for 17 years as managing director of Victor Gollancz Ltd. But it was her earlier career as a French horn... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Little Brown Spark and Bluebird have acquired 'Joy At Work: The Career-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,' a new book on organizing office and work spaces by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein, for simultaneous publication in the U.S. and the U.K. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sono Rosenberg, a longtime copy editor for Random House who worked with authors including Maya Angelou and James Michener, died at her home in New York on March 12. She was 98. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeff Serena, publisher of Voyageur Press, an imprint of the Quarto Group, died February 15 after a 15-month battle with stomach cancer. He was 62 Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shelley spent nine months by Lake Geneva writing the story of the bringing to life of a monster Percy Shelley’s correction of Mary Shelley’s misspelling of “igmmatic” in the notebooks in which she scrawled the story of Frankenstein – “enigmatic o you pretty Pecksie!” he wrote – will be seen in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ernest Hecht, who has died aged 88, was the last of the émigré publishers – a fact he delighted in pointing out in the wake of the passing two years ago of Lord Weidenfeld and Peter Owen. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Marie Bedrune tells us all about her role as foreign rights manager at Nobrow/Flying Eye Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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