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 ]
News tagged with:
#world war
#english mother
The former MIT Press director who pioneered the strategy of focused disciplinary specialization, created the first university press website, and published the first interactive ebook died late last week. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#mit press
Young was accused of heresy with his bestselling 'The Shack,' and the author expects that his new novel 'Eve' will spark even more debate. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Perle, who served as publisher of William Morrow, among other top level positions across publishing houses, died August 20 at the age of 59, after living with breast cancer for more than eight years. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#william morrow
#publishing houses
#breast cancer
Prolific children’s author, collage artist, and world traveler Ann McGovern died on Saturday, August 8, at her home in New York City. She was 85. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Patricia Day Stein, who was v-p and co-founder of the book publisher Stein and Day with her then husband Sol Stein, died on July 16 in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., of natural causes. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
One of the most celebrated American novelists best known for his historical fiction whose books Ragtime and Billy Bathgate were turned into filmsAnointed “our pre-eminent lefty” among contemporary American novelists, EL Doctorow, who has died aged 84, was praised as the “epic poet” of the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#political novelist
#lost world
E.L. Doctorow, the American author best known for such novels as 'Ragtime' and 'The March,' died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 84. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#american author
After a long struggle with cancer, the founder of Merritt Bookstore in Millbrook, N.Y., passed away on Sunday July 19. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#long struggle
#merritt bookstore
The creator of the Bookstore Mind Share' index for comparing stores talks about the creation of his list of the world's top 40 bookstores. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Braman, who served as v-p and publishing director at HarperCollins, then v-p. and editor-in-chief at Henry Holt, died on July 2 of complications with breast cancer. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#henry holt
#breast cancer
James Brannigan, a well-known executive in the audiobook industry and former president of the Audio Publishers Association, passed away on June 29 after a brief illness. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Former American Booksellers Association CEO Avin Domnitz died of cancer on June 27. During his tenure he advanced the cause of independent booksellers, creating Book Sense (now IndieBound) and Winter Institute. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#independent booksellers
#winter institute
The founder of Seattle Mystery Bookshop in Seattle, Wash., died on Sunday, June 28, just days before the bookstore will celebrate its 25th anniversary on July 1. He was 83. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#25th anniversary
Award-winning children's author Judith St. George, widely known for her many titles drawing on events and figures of American history, died in her home in Bloomfield, Conn., on June 10. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#award-winning children
#american history
Paul Bacon's name may be unfamiliar, but anyone who has browsed the bestseller racks over the last 60 years knows his work. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book covers
#paul bacon
My friend and former colleague Belinda Hollyer, who has died aged 70, was an author of children’s books and also worked extensively in publishing.Belinda was born in Takapuna, New Zealand, to James and Dieudonnee Bracewell, who were both schoolteachers. After studying at university in Auckland... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The designer who pioneered the ‘big book look’ - creating covers for more than 6,500 books, ranging from Catch-22 to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - has died aged 91 in New York. Here are some of his best Continue reading... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#paul bacon
#big book
Exceptional service in the Second World War was a prologue to a publishing career at two influential global groups for Gordon Graham, who is remembered by former publishing analyst Eric de Bellaigue Gordon Graham, who died on 24th April 2015 aged 94, was a past president of the Publishers... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#world war
#publishing career
#past president
#publishers association
#british library
Red Wheel/Weiser sales manager Margaret (Meg) Richardson died on Friday, May 8, 2015, after a brief battle with cancer. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The Wake wins honour from the Bookseller magazine, recognising both the book and its innovative publisher UnboundPaul Kingsnorth’s crowdfunded novel The Wake, which the author wrote in an invented form of Old English and originally envisaged self-publishing, has won the inaugural book of the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bookseller magazine
#author wrote
#raising money
#reimagined version