Author and academic Umberto Eco, 84, died February 19 at his home in Milan. Eco was the author of many works of nonfiction and novels, including The Name of the Rose (1983), Foucault’s Pendulum (1988) and most recently Numero Zero, published last November by longtime US publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who said in a statement: “Umberto Eco was one of the great novelists and scholars of our time. Yet even more than for his timeless works, we will remember him for his exuberance, his vitality, his intense loyalties, and his wonderful company.” Author and National Book Award finalist Rosario Ferré, […]
Briefs: HarperCollins Italia Acquires 20lines; Penguin Random House India Partners With Manjul; and More
HarperCollins Italia has acquired 20lines, a community that allows users to write, read and share short-format stories via a smartphone app. Available in seven languages, the app is said to feature 40,000 authors and 15,000 new pieces of content published every month. Harper’s chief digital officer, evp international Chantal Restivo-Alessi says in the announcement, “20lines has created a tremendous platform with a passionate community of readers and writers in the same markets where HarperCollins maintains a global footprint. We look forward to engaging with its users and exploring short-form content.” Separately, Penguin Random House India announced a co-publishing partnership for local language translation with Manjul Publishing House. […]
People: Harper Lee Dies, and More
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Nelle Harper Lee has died at age 89, the Alabama Media Group reported Friday morning, citing confirmation from “multiple sources in her hometown of Monroeville.” HarperCollins confirmed her passing to the NYT, which has a lengthy obituary by William Grimes. Yale University Press editor-at-large and former Los Angeles Times Book Review editor Steve Wasserman will join Heyday Books as publisher and executive director on July 1, relocating to Berkeley, CA. He succeeds founder Malcolm Margolin, who retired at the end of last year. In the intervening period Heyday’s editorial director, Gayle Wattawa, will act as interim publisher, and director […]
People, Etc.
Cliff Guren is leaving Bluefire, where he was vp, business development, to relaunch his consulting business Syntopical. Bluefire founder and ceo Micah Bowers said in the announcement: “Over the past five years I have had the pleasure of working with Cliff as we’ve successfully grown our software licensing business…. Cliff has done a fabulous job for us and we hope to find opportunities to work together in the years to come.” Coming soon from Bluefire is their Cloudshelf family of EPUB 3 reader applications and distribution services that will enable businesses and institutions to “deploy digital private libraries and subscription services to their constituent […]
Supreme Court Postpones February 19 Conference; Appeals Court Affirms $450m Apple Settlement; Docs from the IRS Amazon Case
The Supreme Court has postponed its February 19 conference, when they were scheduled to consider Apple’s request to hear an appeal of the ebook antitrust case, as that day will be taken up by a ceremony for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last weekend. The court has also postponed its regularly scheduled orders for Monday, February 22. Separately, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the proposed settlement between Apple and the Department of Justice that could award as much as $400 million to ebook customers affected by the price-fixing lawsuit. The appeal, brought on behalf of plaintiff […]
People, Etc.
Wes Miller will move over to Grand Central as senior editor on March 14, focusing on thrillers. He spent the past five years as an editor at Mulholland. Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association marketing director for the past 10 years Brian Juenemann will take over as executive director of the organization on March 1, after Tom Chambliss retires. He worked at the University of Oregon Bookstore for over a decade before joining the PNBA. Sarah Janet has joined Open Road Integrated Media as a marketing manager. Most recently she was a copywriter at Scholastic, and a marketing manager at Penguin. We missed […]