Once again, a prominent literary estate has switched representation to The Wylie Agency. The estate of Jose Saramago announced the change as of December 30, 2014, saying “this shift to a larger literary agency emerges as a natural step to ensure greater presence” of Saramago’s work. They briefly thanked Nicole Witt at Literary Agency Mertin, Saramago’s longtime agency (first under the late Ray-Gude Mertin). Witt expressed “great surprise” at the “short email” from the estate notifying her of the change. She writes, in part, “When I said goodbye to José Saramago in Lanzarote in June 2010, shortly before he passed away, I […]
People, Etc.
At Putnam, Ashley Hewlett has been promoted to senior publicist while Sarah Grimm moves up to associate publicist. Following the sales of Santillana’s trade book business to Penguin Random House, Maria B. Campbell Associates is now the US literary scout for all of the company’s Spanish-language (and Portuguese-language) book divisions: Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial in Spain and Portugal, Companhia das Letras and Objetiva in Brazil. With further hostage developments in Paris following Wednesday’s Charlie Hebdo attacks, Michel Houellebecq has stopped promotion of his novel SUBMISSION (with the exception of a pre-recorded interview that will air on Canal+ Friday night) and has left […]
Authors Guild Drops Further Action in HathiTrust Lawsuit
The Authors Guild’s long-running copyright infringement lawsuit against the has finally reached the end with the announcement that the Guild will no longer pursue any legal action. The news comes after the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed portions of a lower court ruling, finding that the HathiTrust digital library’s full-text search and display of texts to the print-disabled qualified as fair use. (The Guild had criticized that the ruling and said three months ago that it would “announce its next steps shortly.”) Under the new agreement that drops any further re-examination by the lower court, the HathiTrust libraries represent to the Guild that their copying […]
Hannah Leads February Indie Next List; Tyler Tops Library Reads List
The preview version of the February Indie Next List has The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah as indie booksellers’ No. 1 selection for the month. The rest of the list features: Etta and Otto and Russell and James, by Emma Hooper A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler Of Things Gone Astray, by Janina Mathewson Get in Trouble, by Kelly Link Sweetland, by Michael Crummey Leaving Before the Rains Come, by Alexandra Fuller The Jaguar’s Children, by John Vaillant First Frost, by Sarah Addison Allen Wolf Winter, by Cecilia Ekbäck The Swimmer, by Joakim Zander Mort(e), by Robert Repino Migratory […]
People, Etc.
Hachette Book Group has completed its acquisition of Black Dog & Leventhal. Workman will continue to distribute the line through June of this year, and Black Dog staff will relocate to HBG’s offices in mid-April. Taylor Sperry has joined Melville House as editor. Previously she was assistant editor at FSG. At St. Martin’s, Hannah Braaten, Laura Chasen, Silissa Kenney, and Elizabeth Lacks have all been promoted to associate editor. At Tor/Forge, Kristin Sevick has been promoted to senior editor, while Sarah Romeo moves up to designer. Cassandra Ammerman has been promoted to senior marketing manager, and Alex Cameron moves up to […]
FSG, Heinemann To Publish Houellebecq’s SUBMISSION In Wake of Charlie Hebdo Massacre
Wednesday morning’s attack on the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 dead, including four cartoonists and the economist and author Bernard Maris, took place on the French publication date of Michel Houellebecq‘s new novel SUBMISSION, already subject to controversy for its depiction of France under Islamic rule in 2022 (and featured on the cover of Charlie Hebdo’s most recent issue, also published Wednesday). An armed police guard is currently stationed at the headquarters of Houellebecq’s publisher Flammarion, while “a large sign said visitors must request permission by phone and get an escort before entering.” The company’s […]