Peter Kaplan, editor who commissioned Sex and the City, dies at 59

Former New York Observer editor was known as cultural arbiter and was credited with cultivating style of influential paperPeter Kaplan, the former editor of The New York Observer who hired a then-unknown Candace Bushnell to write a column called "Sex and the City" has died. He was 59.Kaplan died on Friday of cancer in New York City, said his wife, Lisa Chase. He edited the Observer from 1994 to 2009. The weekly has a reach beyond its circulation of about 50,000 because it is read by the Manhattan-based movers and shakers it covers.Kaplan was credited with honing the paper's snarky tone and with hiring writers who became influential voices of their era. Bushnell's column, about love and dating, inspired the hit HBO series Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, and followed by two movie adaptations."The more cancellations we got for her column", Kaplan wrote in New York magazine in 2011, "the more the paper knew we had hit the jackpot". Other writers who worked under Kaplan at the Observer include Joe Conason, who is now editor-in-chief of the political website The National Memo, and Nikki Finke, who founded Deadline.com.After leaving the Observer, Kaplan was hired as the editorial creative director at Conde Nast Traveler. In 2010, he was named editorial director of the Fairchild Fashion Group, now Fairchild Fashion Media, a division of Conde Nast Publications. But Kaplan's role as a cultural arbiter was perhaps best exemplified by the creation of several fake... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2013-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]

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Newsweek Chairman Sidney Harman Dies

Newsweek chairman Sydney Harman has died, according to The Daily Beast. He was 93. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Smithsonian Editor Carey Winfrey to Step Down From Role

Carey Winfrey, the editor of Smithsonian magazine for since 2001, has announced his resignation from the publication, effective September 30th. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Biteback acquires Peter Hain memoir

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 15:00 Biteback has bought the memoir of former Northern Ireland secretary of state and anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain. Managing director Iain Dale bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Guam and South Africa) from... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lonely Planet's Richard Samson dies

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 18/03/2011 - 14:52 Lonely Planet general manager for Asia Pacific Richard Samson has died today [18th March], following a battle with a terminal illness. Samson started in his latest role in Lonely Planet's Melbourne head office in June... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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United Agents' Canter dies

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 14/03/2011 - 08:52 United Agents co-founder and children's agent Rosemary Canter died on Friday [11th March]. Canter began her publishing career as assistant fiction editor at Penguin Books in 1972, eventually working in children's book... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Walter Zacharius, 87, Romance Publisher, Dies

Walter Zacharius emerged from the world of true-confession magazines and paperback genre fiction to found Kensington. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When Is An Editor An Audience Development Specialist?

Kiplinger's Personal Finance is embarking on an aggressive digital and social media push this year to expand its audience, particularly younger readers (the company also expects digital revenue to be 60 percent of print advertising revenue in 2011). Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Want more women writers in magazines? Get more female editors.

As Meghan O'Rourke reported here last week, VIDA, an organization for women writers, has released a tally of male and female bylines for the 2010 run of 14 high-end, literary-oriented magazines. Despite a couple of relatively bright spots (the New York Times Book Review surprisingly being one),... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2011-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Weidenfeld editor-in-chief to retire

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New Republic Editor (and Part Owner) Steps Down After 37 Years

Marty Peretz, the editor-in-chief of The New Republic of the past 37 years, is stepping down and taking the title of "editor-in-chief emeritus." Editor Richard Just takes over as editor-in-chief. Perezt, who wrote a blog called The Spine, will continue to write a column for TheNewRepublic.com. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Editor 'provided cover for spies'

Plot thickens: Dominic Lawson denies new accusations that he helped MI6 agents when working for the SpectatorRelated stories:MI6's lawyers lose spy book appeal Pen mightier than the sword Russian colonel's defection an intelligence coup for Britain Dominic Lawson, the editor of the Sunday... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2001-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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