Former Penguin Canada president David Davidar’s lawyer Peter Downard has indicated in a brief statement that Lisa Rundle’s lawsuit alleging unlawful dismissal and sexual harrassment has been settled. He said in an e-mail, “we can now advise that all allegations have been addressed and all matters resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.” Downard added, “None of the parties will be commenting further to the media.” Penguin Canada spokesperson Yvonne Hunter also says “everything has been settled.” And in Wednesday’s announcement of Mike Bryan’s appointment as president of Penguin Canada, the company indicated that Rundle will return to work at […]
Archives for July 2010
International: Approval for Bertelsmann’s Spanish Book Club Deal; Scholastic’s Arabic Exports; Faber Academy Spreads
The European Commission has approved a deal under which Bertelsmann’s Circulo de Lectores book club in Spain will now be controlled jointly by the German media group and Spain’s Planeta.Dow Jones The LAT had an interesting feature on Scholastic‘s efforts to translate select books from their list into Arabic. “Over the last three years, almost 17 million copies have been shipped from a plant in Missouri to elementary schools across the Middle East and North Africa. The State Department “paid for translations through a democracy-building initiative and for printing about half the books.” Scholastic vp Carol Sakoian says, “arents in […]
Authors: Waterstone’s “Novel”; Amis Stops Biography; Patterson Hits Seven-Figures for eBooks; Chinese Author Faces Threats; Stephen King’s Summer Reads
Unsuccessful at buying his way back into book retailing, Tim Waterstone will reappear in stores this fall as an author–of a “thinly disguised” novel IN FOR A PENNY, IN FOR A POUND from Corvus. The Guardian calls it “a searing treatment of the world of books that contains recognisable caricatures of several figures in publishing, newspapers and high finance.” Characters include “a brash book-buying chief at a chain of stores named Waterwells.”Guardian Though Martin Amis co-operated with biographer Richard Bradford, sitting for “five face-to-face interviews in return for having an ‘editorial say’ over the contents of the biography,” that “say” […]
Barnes & Noble Has July 8 Court Date with Burkle
Barnes & Noble reveals in their annual report with the SEC that investor Ron Burkle’s lawsuit against the company filed in Delaware Chancery Court in early May is scheduled to go to trial July 8. Burkle’s Yucaipa American Alliance is seeking to overturn the poison poll BN adopted to keep him from acquiring more than 20 percent of the bookseller’s shares. Burkle has even more reason to be agitated now than when he filed the suit, with Barnes & Noble shares down over 30 percent from two months ago. In the standard risk factors enumerated in the bookseller’s SEC filing, […]
People
Reka Simonsen will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s as executive editor for Harcourt on August 2, reporting to editorial director Jeannette Larson. She was previously a senior editor at Henry Holt Children’s. Later this month Ethan Rutherford will join Milkweed Editions as publicity manager. British author Dame Beryl Bainbridge, 75, died of cancer. The Guardian writes: “One of the grandes dames of the UK’s literary scene, Bainbridge was a prolific writer whose short, dark comic novels – which invariably included a streak of tragedy – landed her five shortlistings for the Man Booker prize (and the label of perennial Booker […]
Suits: AVT Claims Libel By Randall Lane; Jude Law Wants to Block Ex-Wife’s Book
The company AVT (previously called Automated Vending Technologies) says they have filed a $100 million libel suit in California’s Orange County against author Randall Lane for his just-released book The Zeroes: My Misadventures in the Decade Wall Street Went Insane.” The book alleges that AVT hired former baseball star-turned-investor Lenny Dykstra to promote the company’s stock on TheStreet.com, and claims that he his brother-in-law was given stock in the company as compensation for the publicity.Lawsuit press release In the UK, actor Jude Law asked a court to block publication of his ex-wife Sadie Frost’s forthcoming memoir CRAZY DAYS. John Blake […]