Woody Allen‘s memoir APROPOS OF NOTHING will be published on April 7 by Grand Central. The AP calls the book “once thought unpublishable,” since last May the NYT had reported that at least four major houses passed on the book. Ben Sevier acquired world rights last March, prior to the NYT story, and the publisher has sold translation rights in multiple territories. That makes HBG the publisher of both Woody Allen and Ronan Farrow. In a statement, Dylan Farrow called the publication “deeply upsetting to me personally and an utter betrayal of my brother whose brave reporting, capitalized on by […]
Archives for March 2020
Reed Is Holding the London Book Fair, Dubbed “The Nightmare of Epidemiologists,” without All of You
The UK government is not ready to ban public events of scale yet, and Reed Exhibitions is apparently not ready to face the costs of a voluntary cancellation and continues to vow that the London Book Fair will proceed next week. The show is an increasing outlier, with the big Leipzig Book Fair canceling next week’s show. More companies have announced that they will skip the fair and protect their employees, now including a number of UK-based companies and divisions. Penguin Random House, which officially had only made the show optional for US employees — most of whom opted out […]
People, Etc.
Ian Hudson is stepping down as ceo of DK and will leave the company at the end of April, “to recharge his batteries before embarking on the next stage of his career.” Hudson joined Random House in 1992 and has been a member of the Penguin Random House Global Executive Committee since 2013. He says in the announcement, “It has been a privilege to enjoy the support of my hugely talented colleagues across DK over the past nearly four years. We have been on a challenging journey together and, with some wonderful support from PRH colleagues around the world, DK’s […]
Awards: PEN America Winners, Audies, and More
PEN America announced the winners of its 2020 Literary Awards in a ceremony on Monday evening. Yiyun Li‘s Where Reasons End (Random House) won the $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award; Mimi Lok‘s Last of Her Name (Kaya Press) won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection; Brandon Shimoda‘s The Grave on the Wall (City Lights Books) won the PEN Open Book Award for a book-length work of any genre by an author of color; and Deborah Fleming‘s Resurrection of the Wild (Kent State University Press) won the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. See the […]
Italy’s GeMS Also Cancels London Book Fair Plans, Calls Right Centers “The Nightmare of Epidemiologists”
Italy’s large trade publisher Gruppo Mauri Spagnol announced that it “will give up coming to the London Book Fair” this year, even though all of their employees remain healthy. “A sacrifice that we have been asked by the government to contain the phenomenon, the fruits of which should be seen within a few weeks. Fairs are one of the occasions to be avoided par excellence. All the more, work at the rights center. Hundreds of people from all over the world who each have 40 appointments in three days vis a vis are by definition the nightmare of epidemiologists.” They […]
March Picks
Reese Witherspoon chose The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward as her March book club pick. The Today Show’s Read with Jenna pick is Writers & Lovers by Lily King. The Good Morning America book club picked In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. The March Pennie’s Pick at Costco is Lost Boy Found by Kirsten Alexander. The PBS NewsHour-The New York Times Now Read This book club chose Dani Shapiro‘s Inheritance. Barnes & Noble has started announcing their four Books of the Month titles online, in timely fashion: Normal People, by Sally Rooney Chesapeake Requiem, by Earl Swift The Hunting Party, by […]