My friend Paul Westlake, who has died of cancer aged 65, was a pillar of the radical publishing world from the mid-1970s onwards. He was an advocate of workers' co-operatives and gained much experience in ensuring that the output of independent publishers reached the bookshops.In autumn 1976, after months of planning, we became co-founders, with three others, of a distributor for small radical and feminist publishers, including periodicals. Paul, who had a few years' experience in managing a bookshop, took on the key role of handling the finances, which was a big challenge, particularly for someone without an accounting background.At the beginning, Paul organised the building of an office and warehouse in Clerkenwell Workshops, central London, putting up the internal walls block by block. The Workshops were also home to the magazines Spare Rib and Undercurrents.In 1979 Paul co-founded Zed Books, where he met his partner, Anne. He took on a role in finance and rights administration and in 1983 persuaded the company and its owners to convert to a workers' co-operative. He supported the Industrial Common Ownership Movement for nearly a decade. Always ready to help out in the running of the organisation, he personally introduced the staff to spreadsheets. He also played a leading role in Hackney Co-operative Developments and chaired its trust, which today has a solid property base in Dalston.Paul spent more than 20 years fostering southern African publishing. He founded the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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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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Two new surveys suggest the public still value traditional news publishersWhen you try to imagine a media diet consisting only of retweets, random blogs or the Facebook posts of family and friends, you grasp the value of journalism created by professional media organisations. Traditional news... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-06-17 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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Pop music writer Randy Lewis and pop music critic Robert Hilburn worked together at The Times for a quarter-century before Hilburn retired in 2006. They sat down recently to talk about Hilburn’s latest book, “Paul Simon — The Life,” to be published by Simon & Schuster on Tuesday, just ahead... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-05-06 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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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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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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Robyn Karney, who has died of cancer aged 77, was a writer on film and a literary editor. She had comprehensive knowledge of the cinema, and in the early 1980s edited the popular Octopus Books series of Hollywood studio histories. She co-wrote the Bloomsbury Foreign Film Guide (1988, with Ronald... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Paula Fredriksen's forthcoming book, 'Paul: A Pagan's Apostle' (Yale, Aug.), the scholar finds that understanding Paul is key to reconstructing the first generation of the Christian movement. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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