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'

More Than a Satire: American Fiction is a Poignant Reflection on Existence

Of all the great premises™ boasted by this year’s slate of movies, the wonderful American Fiction has one of the very best. The film is about a veteran writer of literary fiction who, as a Black man, finds himself undesirable in the literary market for his lack of conforming to type. The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-15 09:55:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #american fiction #veteran writer #black man #literary market #literary fiction

China Literature Buys Tencent Animation and Comics

Pursuing its strategy of seeking to further leverage IP, China Literature, China's dominant online publishing and e-book company, has bought Tencent Animation and Comics for 600 million yuan (US$83.6 million). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-13 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #china literature #e-book #online publishing

B&T’s Aman Kochar Reflects on the Changes He Has Made Since Buying the Company Two Years Ago

Baker & Taylor’s Aman Kochar has embraced the wholesaler’s role as a conduit between libraries and publishers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #baker taylor #aman kochar #libraries

Climate Cookbooks Are Here to Change How You Eat

Sustainable diets have been around for ages. An emerging cookbook genre that tackles the climate crisis signals a new appetite for change. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2023-12-02 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #cookbook

How OpenAI's ChatGPT has changed the world in just a year

Over the course of two months from its debut in November 2022, ChatGPT exploded in popularity, from niche online curio to 100 million monthly active users — the fastest user base growth in the history of the Internet. In less than a year, it has earned the backing of Silicon Valley’s biggest... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-11-30 14:00:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #prove true #money wrapped #revenue streams #firms incorporating #rapid uptake #calendar resetting #upward trajectory #responsible development #congress beginning #draft legislation #significant impact #$10 billion #$30 billion #— heck #authors guild

How OpenAI's ChatGPT has changed the world in just a year

Book Review: ‘Critical Hits,’ edited by J. Robert Lennon and Carmen Maria Machado

In the anthology “Critical Hits,” gamers like Hanif Abdurraqib, Alexander Chee and Larissa Pham explain what the medium means to them. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-11-20 10:00:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #robert lennon #hanif abdurraqib #alexander chee #anthology

Black Romance Authors and Editors Share Their Passion for Love Stories

Amid ongoing challenges, Black authors and editors are creating the love stories they want to read. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #love stories #black authors

12 Books for Tolerance and Understanding (2023), by The Editors of WLT

12 Books for Tolerance and Understanding (2023), by The Editors of WLT Lit Lists [email protected] Tue, 11/14/2023 - 14:07 For years, a prognostication by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe appeared on the masthead page of World Literature Today: “These... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-11-14 20:07:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #delia owens #crawdads sing #north carolina #graphic novel #short stories #bookshop

Kali Fajardo-Anstine in Praise of Willa Cather and the American Southwest

I first heard of Willa Cather as a teenage bookseller in North Denver, at a new, used, rare, and antiquarian bookshop that had once been a mechanic’s garage. At the bookstore, there was an entire section of Cather’s famous works, which I had labeled meticulously with colored markers on scraps of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-14 10:00:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #willa cather #kali fajardo-anstine #american southwest #teenage bookseller #bookshop #bookseller

Panel Mania: Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey by Edel Rodriquez

This graphic memoir is a classic immigrant tale, illuminating the political repression characterizing the society author Edel Rodriquez escaped in Cuba—and rebuking its rising right-wing political presence. An 11-page excerpt. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #11-page excerpt #graphic memoir

Scholars Chart Religious Changes

New books address cultural changes and America’s shifting religious demographics. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Jane Garrett, Book Editor With a Prizewinning Touch, Dies at 88

History books she shepherded over 44 years at Alfred A. Knopf won a raft of Pulitzers — seven in all — as well as Bancrofts, though one recipient set off a furious academic debate. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-11-03 21:36:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #history books #book editor

Alexandra Chang Turns the Pain of a Friendship Breakup Into a Short Story

“The world here beats faster than a hummingbird’s wings,” writes Alexandra Chang in her new collection Tomb Sweeping. Chang, the author of Days of Distraction and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 recipient, writes poignantly about tenuous connection. In these stories, a wealthy housewife... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-11-02 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #short story #electric literature #national book foundation

David Mitchell, Weekly Editor Who Exposed a Corrupt Cult, Dies at 79

His tiny California newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for its exposé of Synanon, a renowned drug rehabilitation program that had turned into a violent operation. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-11-01 21:32:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #david mitchell #pulitzer prize

World Literature Today to Co-host Online “RESISTIR Latin America” Poetry Event

World Literature Today to Co-host Online “RESISTIR Latin America” Poetry Event News and Events [email protected] Mon, 10/30/2023 - 15:47 On Saturday, November 18 at 10am cst, the “RESISTIR Groupe” of Latin American PEN Centers, World Literature... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-30 20:47:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #george henson #robin myers #colleen noland #cal paule #lawrence schimel #anthony seidman #featured poets #remarkable gathering #urgent voices #south america #seventy books #numerous awards #durn-barba directs #claude couffon #remarkable pens #american literature

World Literature Today to Co-host Online “RESISTIR Latin America” Poetry Event and Call for Peace

World Literature Today to Co-host Online “RESISTIR Latin America” Poetry Event and Call for Peace News and Events [email protected] Mon, 10/30/2023 - 15:47 On Saturday, November 18 at 12pm cst, the “RESISTIR Groupe” of Latin American PEN Centers,... Continue reading at World Literature Today

A new $25,000 book prize will recognize the best new literature about the arts.

Attention all writers who write about writing (or painting, or dancing, or music…): the Interlochen Center for the Arts and The Pattis Family Foundation have established a new annual award that seeks to recognize “outstanding works of fiction or nonfiction” that “inspire, illuminate, or... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-19 16:06:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #creative writing #annual award #creative process #book prize

An Open Letter in Support of Adania Shibli From More Than 350 Writers, Editors, and Publishers

This letter was originally published by ArabLit. The shocking and tragic events that began on October 7th and are ongoing today have had repercussions all over the globe, including within the publishing world. Award-winning Palestinian author Adania Shibli, who was a finalist for the 2020... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-17 09:05:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #open letter #adania shibli #originally published #publishing world #national book award

4 Best American Titles Releasing This Month

These anthologies, which annually round up short works published during the prior year in a handful of genres and subject areas, hit bookstore shelves next week. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #prior year #subject areas #bookstore