The man who ushered classics like Catch-22 into the world, Gottlieb has reason to brag. But in his new memoir Avid Reader he prefers to downplay the editor’s role Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22, once gave an interview where he credited his editor with kicking his work into shape. After the interview ran, Heller got an irritated phone call. The caller was his editor, Robert Gottlieb. Gottlieb told Heller to knock it off. “I felt then, and still do, that readers shouldn’t be made aware of editorial interventions,” Gottlieb writes in his new memoir, Avid Reader: A Life. “They have a right to feel that what they’re reading comes direct from the author to them.”Gottlieb’s book is full of stories like that one. He is a very unassuming person, for an alleged legend – a characterization he laughs at to me, saying his daughter pokes fun at him for so often being called it. Yet beginning at Simon & Schuster in the 1950s and 1960s, flourishing at Knopf in the 1970s and 1980s, and with a brief but memorable detour to the New Yorker (as an editor), Gottlieb’s editing pen has touched the manuscripts of most of the important American writers of the 20th century – and several of the British ones, too. He did it, though, as much from behind the scenes as he possibly could. “I’ve given very few interviews,” he told me when I met him at his book-lined townhouse on New York’s East Side. He is only giving this one now, he says, because he needs to help the publisher sell his book. ... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2016-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Joffe Books’ Stephanie Carey has been promoted to associate commissioning editor from her previous role of project editor, effective immediately. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-09 12:49:18 UTC ]
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Cosy crime has boomed in the last year but there is still space for the psychological thriller, according to agents and editors, who describe a general appetite for crime and escapism that has flourished under lockdown. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-08 15:43:41 UTC ]
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With the ongoing climate crisis, public libraries are a temporary refuge from extreme temperatures for low-income families like my own, writes Carol Eugene Park. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2021-11-07 15:00:00 UTC ]
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He revealed U.S. atrocities in Vietnam while reporting for Newsweek and wrote a book about the ouster of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-11-06 16:48:34 UTC ]
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Over the past few years, there’s been a lot of heated discourse surrounding a trend in book covers in which many new releases opt for variations of the same colorful abstractions: The Blob. Somehow deemed appropriate for everything from dystopian debuts to literary fiction bestsellers, these... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-11-05 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholars scour religious texts and teachings for a better way forward in new books from academic publishers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-11-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Claire Tomalin’s ‘The Young H.G. Wells’ is a fascinating look at the prolific writer’s rocky beginnings and complicated personal life. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-11-03 12:00:00 UTC ]
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In Uwem Akpan’s debut novel, “New York, My Village,” a Black African editor traces tribalism at home and abroad. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-11-02 09:00:06 UTC ]
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An embarrassing thing to admit to, but it’s the truth—for the past five years, I have been haunted by a blurb. One night in the summer of 2016, I was scanning the fiction shelves at Unnameable Books in Prospect Heights when I came across the hardcover of Chris Bachelder’s The Throwback Special,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-11-02 08:53:35 UTC ]
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Vincent van Gogh loved writers as much as he loved painters. It was partly by immersing himself in literature that Van Gogh developed the singular, elegant voice that makes his letters such an important literary achievement. This immersion also helped give him an ability to describe so... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-11-02 08:50:51 UTC ]
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Macmillan Children's Books imprint Two Hoots has landed an "accessible and inclusive" account of LGTBQ+ activism from David Roberts. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-27 21:55:02 UTC ]
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News and Events (c) Rama, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr NORMAN, OKLA. – World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, announced late Tuesday evening that Boubacar Boris Diop is the 27th... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-10-26 21:56:54 UTC ]
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Hodder Education has withdrawn a textbook questioning if the treatment of Native Americans has been exaggerated, following complaints. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-25 13:19:43 UTC ]
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Mr. Pinkney brought new life to old fairy tales — and to children’s literature as a whole — with his radiant illustrations in more than 100 picture books. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-22 13:28:42 UTC ]
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Frank Herbert’s magnum opus: masterful or clumsy? Denis Villeneuve’s movie continues the debate. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-21 13:13:42 UTC ]
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'PW' is tracking book publication dates that are changing as a result of recent supply chain issues. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-10-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The field of African American religious studies scarcely existed before he took it on in the 1970s with writings distinguished by both their scholarship and their spiritualism. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-14 14:10:00 UTC ]
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New York-based boss of News Corp set to be asked about private meeting with Scott Morrison and company’s new campaign for climate actionThe global head of Rupert Murdoch’s empire, Robert Thomson, will appear before the media diversity inquiry next week to answer questions about the dominance of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-10-14 04:56:21 UTC ]
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Like the complex Philippine history the book aims to depict, there is no single sentence that can sum up Albert Samaha’s Concepcion, especially when he renders that history through the lens of his own diasporic family, dating back to his ancestors’ first encounter with Europeans. Though... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-10-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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“Concepcion,” by Albert Samaha, combines the epic sweep of global history with an intimate family narrative. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-10-12 09:00:07 UTC ]
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