Penguin Random House will not attend Bologna Book Fair, due to COVID-19, announced Tuesday morning. They become the second major publisher to pull out of the event, after Simon & Schuster, which announced their withdrawal on Friday. A representative for PRH told PL, “In light of the travel risks related to the Coronavirus and our ongoing concerns for the health and well-being of our employees, authors, and partners, Penguin Random House will not participate in the Bologna Book Fair.” On Monday evening the Italian government imposed a country-wide quarantine, banning essentially all public gatherings and severely limiting travel in and […]
Archives for March 2020
Forthcoming: Gaga’s Book of Young People’s Stories, and More Ina Garten
Our deal reports are filling with London Book Fair-time acquisitions and announcements, even though the event has been cancelled, and this week should see more high-profile fall release news as well as a result. Lady Gaga’s Channel Kindness foundation has created a book of the same name: Feiwel and Friends will publish CHANNEL KINDNESS on September 22. It’s a collection of inspirational stories written by young people, and includes “personal notes of empowerment” from Lady Gaga.”These storytellers share how they felt, created safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth, and embraced kindness with every fiber of their being by helping others without […]
Author Luis Sepulveda Contracted COVID-19 At Portugese Literary Festival
Chilean writer Luis Sepulveda, who lives in northern Spain, has contracted COVID-19, according to local health authorities. He began to show symptoms on February 25 after returning home from the Correntes d’Escritas festival, held from February 15 through February 23, in Northern Portugal. The regional government said he is “stable” and indicated his wife is “also displaying the symptoms and is being tested.” Portuguese authorities are reportedly trying to make contact with the people who attended the festival. Sepulveda’s publisher Porto indicated on Twitter their staff “are all well, but, according to the recommendations of the [health authorities], they will […]
Hachette Still Wants to Publish Woody Allen, At Least In France
Following Friday’s cancellation of Woody Allen’s memoir A Propos of Nothing by Hachette Book Group, at least some of the international licensees expressed their intention — or desire — to go forward with publication. Most prominently, Hachette’s Editions Stock wants to proceed. Director of the imprint Manuel Carcassonne told Le Point: “The American situation is not ours. Woody Allen is a great artist, filmmaker, writer, and his New York Jewish humor can still be read in every line of this autobiography, in self-mockery, modesty, and the art of disguising the tragic in comedy. Including at his expense. It is sad […]
People, Etc.
At Random House Children’s, Maria Correa joins the Classic Brand team as associate editor. She was previously junior editor at Little Tiger Group. Morgan Maple joins as associate publicist. She was previously publicity assistant at Little, Brown Children’s. Gisela de la Concepción Fosado has been promoted to editorial director at Duke University Press. Susan Fissell has been promoted to director, special markets at Simon & Schuster. Sales manager Nicholas Sinisi has left Diamond Book Distributors. He can be reached at nicholas.sinisi@gmail.com. Audio Workman Publishing will publish and distribute audiobooks directly to trade and library channels through its new imprint Workman Audio, […]
Macmillan Starts Discussions On Alternate Library eBook Pricing that Avoids Embargo Through Different Charges
Macmillan recently shared some potential new pricing models for library ebook lending that could take the place of their current controversial embargo on making new-release ebooks available to libraries in the first eight weeks of publication. The new models are intended to “open discussions on possible new library models,” and were shared with a small number of individual librarians, as well as with a number of library associations, including the ALA (American Library Association) and the PLA (Public Library Association). ReadersFirst, an organization of libraries from around the world, posted a file summarizing the proposals, and offered some of their […]