Robert Gottlieb: the editor who changed American literature

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 ]
News tagged with: #avid reader #simon schuster #20th century

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Robert Gottlieb: the editor who changed American literature'


Today’s North American Manga Market: The Wins, The Losses, and Everything Else

North America is experiencing a manga boom. Here's a look at the industry's history with manga and its future. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-08-13 10:33:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #manga


Define 'Reasonable': Can Maryland's New E-book Law Help Change the Marketplace?

Maryland's recently passed library e-book law will require any publisher offering to license "an electronic literary product" to consumers in the state to also offer to license the content to public libraries "on reasonable terms." The question now is: what are reasonable terms? Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-08-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #e-book law #publisher offering #public libraries #e-book


Why barbershops are at the forefront of the effort to vaccinate Black Americans

From COVID-19 vaccines to mental health, officials see barbers as playing an important role in advancing public health. In a barbershop in North St. Louis County, owner Randy Barnes listens as one of his barbers tells him that COVID-19 vaccines cause women to become infertile. That barber had... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2021-08-11 07:00:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #covid-19 vaccines #mental health #important role


England’s South Asian Desiblitz Literature Festival Plans a Hybrid Edition

The third staging of the Desiblitz Literature Festival in Birmingham will feature both published authors and workshop programming. The post England’s South Asian Desiblitz Literature Festival Plans a Hybrid Edition appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-08-09 19:04:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post england #hybrid edition #published authors #literature festival


Denne Michele Norris Takes the Helm at 'Electric Literature'

Denne Michele Norris has been named editor-in-chief of 'Electric Literature' starting on August 10. She succeeds Jess Zimmerman, who had held the role since 2017 before stepping away earlier this summer. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-08-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #electric literature #named editor-in-chief


5 Ways Working at a Used Bookstore Changed Me Forever

After working a used bookstore for many years, I picked up some strange habits that I just can't seem to shake. Here are 5 of them. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-08-06 10:33:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bookstore


Former Bookseller editor David Whitaker dies

David Whitaker, a former editor of The Bookseller, has died. Whitaker died peacefully in his sleep overnight on 4th August, his widow Maggie Van Reenan has confirmed. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-05 11:21:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #david whitaker #sleep overnight #4th august #bookseller


Authors Guild Diversity Webinar Asks: Can Book Publishing Change?

The Authors Guild's virtual panel "Centering Black Voices: Short-Term Progress or Sustainable Change?," held on July 27, offered a wide-ranging examination of the history and potential of the book industry’s continuing struggle to address diversity. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #authors guild #sustainable change #book industry #address diversity #book publishing


Viking promotes editors Brown and Moynes as imprint grows

Penguin General imprint Viking has promoted editor Connor Brown and Vikki Moynes as it continues to grow its non-fiction and fiction publishing. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-27 10:11:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fiction publishing


2021 Booker Longlist Announced, Contains Four Americans

The longlist for the Booker Prize has been announced, including four American authors. The prize is worth £50,000. A shortlist of six will be announced on September 14, and the winner on November 2. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #booker prize #american authors


World Literature Today Announces 2021 Neustadt Festival Poster Design Contest Winners

News and Events The first-place winning design in the 2021 Neustadt Lit Fest poster design project by Sydney Sleeper University of Oklahoma students Sydney Sleeper, Andie Trillo and Jamie McCarley have been awarded first, second and third place,... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-07-21 14:32:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #featured writers #lit fest #young readers #visual communication #daniel simon #provide feedback #graphic designer #neustadt prizes #visit neustadtprize #best-selling author


The American Booksellers Association promoted an anti-trans book, apologized, and then deleted it.

The American Booksellers Association has made their Twitter account private after promoting a scientifically inaccurate anti-trans book, apologizing, and then deleting the apology. The controversy started when the ABA, as part of their July “white box” promotional mailing, sent 750 bookstores a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-16 17:06:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #anti-trans book #irreversible damage #american booksellers association


The Sympathizer adaptation will star Robert Downey Jr. as all the villains.

Back in April, A24 and Rhombus Media optioned the rights to Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, Nguyen’s Pulitzer-winning debut novel about a half-French, half-Vietnamese army captain who serves as a communist double agent after the fall of Saigon. The novel is being adapted into a limited... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-16 15:33:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #pulitzer-winning debut #park chan-wook #debut novel


The popular books that brought Americans together in a common culture

The canon of popular American literature not only unified the culture, it helped create the national narrative of individualism and self-reliance. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-07-16 14:03:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #popular books #helped create #national narrative #american literature


Knopf Names Jordan Pavlin Its Editor in Chief

Ms. Pavlin, a longtime editor at the publishing house who has worked with Ayana Mathis, Tommy Orange and Yaa Gyasi, succeeds Sonny Mehta, who died in 2019. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-07-14 19:01:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #longtime editor #tommy orange #yaa gyasi


After HarperCollins Acquisition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Library E-book Terms to Change

In a notice sent to library customers this week via their vendors, e-book titles from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will soon be available via a 26-lend metered access model, a change from its previous perpetual access terms. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #library customers #e-book #houghton mifflin harcourt #harpercollins


Roger Bennett spent his British boyhood fixated on ‘Miami Vice’ and the Chicago Bears — then lived his own American Dream

Bennett’s new memoir, “(Re)Born in the USA,” traces an offbeat journey from obsession to proud citizenship. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-07-01 10:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #american dream


Joy Williams has won the 2021 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.

Today, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced that Joy Williams will receive the 2021 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, which honors an American writer whose body of work is distinguished for both its mastery and originality of thought and imagination. Williams, a previous... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-06-30 17:19:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #joy williams #congress prize #american fiction #american writer #pulitzer prize #national book award


On Memory and Literature

Now we're all possessors of personal super computers that can instantly connect us to whole libraries — there can seem little sense to make iambs and trochees part of one's soul. The post On Memory and Literature appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-06-30 09:59:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literature appeared #libraries


2020 North American Comics Sales Grow to $1.28 Billion

Combined sales of comics periodicals and graphic novels in North American in 2020 climbed to approximately $1.28 billion, according to a joint estimate by pop culture trade news sites ICv2 and Comichron. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #combined sales #comics periodicals #graphic novels #north american #approximately $1 #joint estimate