At Random House UK division Cornerstone, Heinemann Jason Arthur has been appointed publisher, while Caroline Gascoigne, formerly Hutchinson publishing director, has been appointed to the newly-created role of publisher at large. Harvard Common Press titles will be distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as of June 1. Bi Feiyu has won the Man Asian Literary Prize for his novel Three Sisters (HMH)Release Julian Barnes has won the David Cohen Prize for lifetime achievement in literature. Toronto mystery bookshop Sleuth of Baker Street will be leaving its longtime location on Bayview Avenue for a smaller location on 907 Milwood Road starting on March 19. Quill […]
Authors
‘The Murder Room’ Author Capuzzo and Penguin Sued for Libel
Journalist Michael Capuzzo’s true crime book The Murder Room, about the inner workings of the Vidocq Society and published last August, is now under scrutiny in New Jersey District Court. Joan Crescenz quietly filed a libel lawsuit in January against Capuzzo and his publisher, Penguin imprint Gotham. At issue is the way in which Capuzzo characterized the relationship between one of his main subjects, the forensic sculptor Frank Bender, and Crescenz, his secretary for more than two decades. The book claims the relationship was sexual, and uses her name twelve times in the process of discussing the purported affair. Crescenz, […]
People: O’Callaghan Resigns as HMH CEO, and More
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ceo Barry O’Callaghan resigned from the company today, though he will remain as a senior advisor. Current cfo Michael Muldowney will serve as interim ceo until a replacement is found. The news comes just a year after the once heavily-leveraged publisher significantly reduced more than $7 billion of debt taken on to acquire first Houghton Mifflin and then Harcourt’s US business in an effective takeover and restructuring by billionaire John Paulson’s hedge fund. Paulson & Co. bought up portions of the company’s distressed debt in order to control the refinancing and conversion to new equity. Callaghan, the […]
A Redesigned Boston Globe Books Section, and More People News
The Boston Globe’s redesigned books section will make its debut on Sunday, March 20, with several additions and changes to its columns, editor Nicole Lamy tells us. Amanda Heller and Barbara Fisher will no longer co-write the “Short Takes” capsule review column; Heller’s last piece appeared on March 6 and Fisher’s on March 13. Replacing them is Kate Tuttle, a freelancer who has contributed to The Washington Post, The Boston Phoenix, Babble and Salon. The Shelf Life column, previously written by Katherine Powers, is now called Word on the Street with a new writer in place. Two new columns – […]
Briefs: ‘Heaven Is For Real’ A Sleeper Hit; Whitcoulls For Sale; Continuing Fenn Fallout; And More
Heaven Is For Real, recounting evangelical pastor Todd Burpo‘s the-four year old son Colton’s otherworldly experience while undergoing surgery for a burst appendix, has proven to be a sleeper paperback hit for Thomas Nelson. The publisher tells the NYT the book (co-written with Sarah Palin ghostwriter Lynn Vincent) had “broken company sales records”, going back to press 22 times on an initial print run of 40,000 copies since the book’s November release. There are now more than 1.5 million copies in print (and “hundreds of thousands of copies” sold) with strong sales in both Barnes & Noble and Christian specialty markets. […]
NBCC Awards; New Imprints; and More
The National Book Critics Circle Awards went to: A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan (Fiction) The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson (General Nonfiction) How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell (Biography) Half a Life, by Darin Straus (Autobiography) One with Others, by C.D. Wright (Poetry) Lyric Poetry and Modern Poetry — Russia, Poland, and the West, by Claire Cavanaugh (Criticism) NBCC Release Online comedy video site Funny or Die will start a line of books under the banner of Funny or Die Books, starting this July with an e-book of celebrity satire […]