Following a lengthy and often contentious discovery process, the late Richard Robinson’s son John Benham (Ben) Robinson formally objected to the probate of his father’s will in a New York Surrogate’s Court last week, asking for a jury trial. The longtime chair, ceo and controlling owner of Scholastic died suddenly in June 2021. His will, last revised in 2018, named Iole Lucchese as his primary heir. Lucchese took over as chair of the Scholastic board shortly after Robinson’s death, and was supposed to inherit Robinson’s controlling A class shares in Scholastic, which means that control of the company hangs in […]
People 7/20
Steidl Enters Preliminary Insolvency Proceedings
German art book publisher Steidl has begun provisional insolvency proceedings, filing an application on July 10. The court says the company failed to make social security payments amounting to 2,438 euros and several lawsuits in labor court allege that it has not paid employee salaries or paid them late. Publisher Gerhard Steidl says that the social security payments have now been made, and wages are expected to be caught up by the end of August. He told NDR: “Times are very bad for the book industry.” Boersenblatt reports that “talks with potential investors, including at the international level, have been […]
People 7/17
Forthcoming: ‘The Last Days of Vic & Coco’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Atria will publish Taylor Jenkins Reid‘s new novel THE LAST DAYS OF VIC & COCO, about a pair of pool hustlers, on March 2, 2027. The publisher writes, “Victoria Lucchese and Colette Wilson have been running their pool hustle for years, driving around the country and leaving overconfident men with empty wallets in their wake. The con is simple: Coco, magnetic and fearless, draws men in with her good looks and convinces them to play against her friend, Vic. Precise and unstoppable, Vic runs the table clean… But now it’s the summer of 1974. Nixon is on the brink of […]
US Copyright Office Proposes Higher Fees
The US Copyright Office, once again led by Shira Perlmutter, has proposed higher fees on copyrights to keep pace with rising costs. The new proposed fee schedule would raise fees an average of 43%. For example, a single work by a single author previously cost $45 to register and will now cost $55, an increase of 44%. Perlmutter writes in a letter to vice president JD Vance, “This is the first change to the Office’s fees since 2020. It would permit us to achieve fee recovery of an amount closer to the historical percentage of our operational budget, incorporating a […]