As promised, attorney Elizabeth McNamara at Davis Wright Tremaine replied Monday afternoon on behalf of Macmillan to President Trump’s attorney, Charles Harder, regarding the cease and desist letter sent last Thursday in an attempt to block publication of Michael Wolff’s FIRE AND FURY. “My clients do not intend to cease publication, no such retraction will occur, and no apology is warranted.” McNamara notes that Harder’s letter “tellingly….stops short of identify a single statement in the book that is factually false or defamatory. Instead, the letter appears to be designed to silence legitimate criticism. This is the antithesis of an actionable […]
Archives for January 2018
New York and Los Angeles PEN Branches Unify Under PEN America Name
In a long-overdue move, the two separate PEN chapters in the US — PEN America, based in New York, with over 5,700 members, and PEN Center USA, based in Los Angeles, comprising about 900 members — will merge into a single entity going forward under the PEN America name. Suzanne Nossel, director of the New York office, will lead the newly-combined PEN America, while Michelle Franke will continue to direct the Los Angeles office. The current board of trustees, overseen by Andrew Solomon, will incorporate PEN USA’s board of directors, including chair Marvin Putnam, vp Jamie Wolf, and director Franklin Leonard. […]
Macmillan CEO: “We will not allow any president to achieve by intimidation what our Constitution precludes”
John Sargent, ceo of Macmillan — the parent company of Henry Holt, the publisher of Michael Wolff’s FIRE AND FURY — sent the following letter to the company’s employees on Monday morning, provided to Publishers Lunch: To: All Macmillan Employees From: John Sargent Last Thursday, shortly after 7:00 a.m., we received a demand from the President of the United States to “immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination” of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury. On Thursday afternoon we responded with a short statement saying that we would publish the book, and we moved the pub date forward to the next day. […]
More Fire, More Fury: Tweets, Regrets, Piracy, Access and More
Michael Wolff’s book FIRE AND FURY continued to dominate the news cycle over the weekend, in large part because the President seemed determined to keep the story front and center. Trump’s tweeted remarks accomplished the exact opposite of what he intended: “Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.” Of his path to the presidency, “I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius….and a very stable genius at that!” More disturbing — and on point to Macmillan ceo John Sargent’s letter and the company’s legal response due later today […]
People, Etc.
Penguin Random House announced a number of recent promotions in the sales department. Julie Black has promoted to senior vice president, sales strategic planning, while Tom Cox moves up to svp, mass merchandise & sistributor sales. In addition, Kim Shannon is promoted to svp, retail sales, and Jeff Weber moves up to svp, online & digital sales. Isabelle Bleecker and Jennifer Thompson are launching Nordlyset Literary Agency (which means The Northern Lights in Norwegian), a new agency offering full rights services for independent publishers and agencies, as well as author representation worldwide. Previously they worked together for fifteen years handling […]
Milo Yiannopoulos’s Attorneys Asked to be Dropped Over “Fundamental Disagreement”
Attorneys at Meister Seelig & Fein [MSF] representing Milo Yiannopoulos in his lawsuit against Simon & Schuster asked Judge Barry Ostrager to allow them to step down from the case. They cite “a breakdown in the relationship betwen Meister Seelig & Fein and [Yianoppolous], rendering continued and effective representation impossible.” Attorney Jeffrey Weingart says in a filing, “Plaintiff has insisted on pursuing actions with which MSF has a fundamental disagreement; Plaintiff’s lack of cooperation in this regard has rendered MSF’s representation of Plaintiff unreasonably difficult to carry out effectively.” As the same time, “in compliance with MSF’s duty of confidentiality…and in […]