After withdrawing the inventory and postponing publication of Naomi Wolf‘s disputed OUTRAGES in June, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and the author have terminated their contract. They have “mutually and amicably agreed to part company” according to releases provided to the AP. (HMH had said previously they needed “time to explore” the questions raised about the book’s historical accuracy.) At the time, Wolf disputed the postponement: “I stand by my work…. More responsiveness and more transparency are the right answers to criticism, and not the complete withdrawal of a text.” Wolf also ended her relationship with Brockman Inc. at the end of July after learning about Jeffrey Epstein’s funding of John Brockman’s Edge.org. US rights to OUTRAGES have reverted to Wolf.
Longtime publishing executive Gary June has been hired for the new role of vp, head of institutional services, digital student solutions at Barnes & Noble Education, reporting to Kanuj Malhotra. Most recently he was vp of sales and marketing at Jones and Bartlett Learning.
Casey Denis has been promoted to associate editor at Penguin Press.
Author Miranda Paul has joined Erin Murphy Literary as associate agent.
Nick Tosches, 69, music writer and author of biographies including Hellfire and Dino, died on Sunday.
Picks
Books-A-Million announced that its next President’s Pick is Ann Napolitano‘s DEAR EDWARD, forthcoming on January 14, 2020.
Bookselling
There was an armed robbery at Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, PA on Friday evening. The Bucks County Courier Times reports that a “masked man wielding a knife” took an “undetermined amount of money” and left through the back door. Store manager Margaret McCampbell said that it “happened in less than five minutes” and no one was hurt.