After almost fifty-five continuous years at Random House, executive editor Bob Loomis “has decided to retire” at the end of June, Gina Centrello told staff today. “You all know how much I adore Bob, and I join you in standing in awe of what he has accomplished and contributed to our publishing. The books he has edited, by Maya Angelou, Neil Sheehan, Edmund Morris, William Styron, Robert Massie, Shelby Foote, Lisa See, and Calvin Trillin, among hundreds of others, have been part of the national conversation, and many of them continue to be read and discussed decades after their publication because of the collaboration between Bob and his authors…. Bob epitomizes the editor’s role at its best.”
Cristina Gilbert will join Bloomsbury next week as executive director of US marketing, managing all US marketing teams, including children’s, adult and academic marketing. She was at Harper Children’s for eight years, most recently as senior director of marketing.
A lawsuit filed in February claiming that Jimmy Carter‘s PALESTINE: Peace Not Aprtheid was improperly marketed as presenting “absolute truth” has been dropped–at least for now. Alabama attorney David I. Schoen tells the NYT the suit in a NY Federal court had “technical jurisdictional concerns” and claims he intends to refile in New York state court.
NYT
Minnesota House of Representatives leader Matt Dean has been picking on Neil Gaiman for a $45,000 speaking fee that he received last year. (Gaiman says the fee, before agency commission, was $40,000, and he donated his proceeds to charities.) But he apologized for calling Gaiman a “pencil-necked little weasel” who “stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota.” Dean told Minnesota Public Radio he was chastised by his mother: “She was very angry this morning and always taught me not to be a name caller. And I shouldn’t have done it, and I apologize.” On his blog, Gaiman wonders why a Republican is attacking free markets: “I don’t like the idea that a politician is telling people that charging a market wage for their services is stealing.”
Also, Gaiman had written about this “political football in a teacup” a year ago. When booking him, the library explained they had a dedicated state allocation for speakers, and had to use the money within the month before that allocation expired.
Update
Gaiman blog