Literary critic, writer, and political activist Liu Xiaobo, who is serving an 11-year sentence in a Chinese prison, has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. The Chinese government condemned the award, and state media immediately blacked out the news and Chinese government censors blocked Nobel prize reports from Internet websites. “We hope the Chinese authorities receive this wise decision by the Nobel Committee as the rest of the world will receive it–as recognition of the power of its citizens to guide and shape […]
Authors
After Further Apologies, Franzen Misprint Still Doesn’t Make Sense
With each additional story the misprinting of FREEDOM only gets fuzzier. Harper UK ceo Victoria Barnsley told the Telegraph over the weekend, “I’d like to apologise profusely to Jonathan, his readers and our customers that our first edition of Freedom does not reflect the author’s final corrected version of the novel…. We are hugely appreciative of Jonathan’s patience and utter professionalism over this.” Yet the publisher continues to blame the typesetter, Palimpsest, for sending the wrong file to the printer–implying that the publisher didn’t send final files, or review proofs before going to press. The same pesky file problem also […]
Rowling to Appear on Oprah
J.K. Rowling did a “wide-ranging interview” with Oprah Winfrey in Edinburgh that will air this Friday, October 1. The announcement says her remarks include addressing the pressures of sudden stardom: “You ask about the pressure. At that point, I kept saying to people, yeah I’m coping…but the truth was there were times when I was barely hanging on by a thread.”
People, Awards, Etc.
Managing director of De Fontein/Tirion in Holland Geneviève Waldmann will also runs VBK’s Kosmos as of October 1, though both houses “will maintain their separate identities.” Later this year De Fontein/Tirion will relocate to Utrecht to join with Kosmos physically. Senior publicity manager at William Morrow Jennifer Slattery has left her position to travel to Australia for the next 6 months. Judith Merkle Riley, author of six historical novels (Vision of Light, In Pursuit of the Green Lion, The Water Devil, The Oracle Glass, The Serpent Garden and The Master of All Desires) and a professor of political science at […]
New Books: Summers, and More 39 Clues
When Lawrence Summers leaves his position as director of the National Economic Council and returns to Cambridge at the beginning of next year, he is expected to start work right away on the first of two books he owes Farrar, Straus. Summers made a deal with Farrar in 2007 for books on education and economics. Originally planning to begin with the education book (following his controversial tenure as president of Harvard), the publisher tells us that he will now write about economics first. Scholastic announced a new version of their 39 Clues franchise, The 39 Clues; Cahills vs. Vespers. The […]
People, Etc.
Seth Fishman is joining The Gernert Company as a literary agent. He was most recently at Sterling Lord Literistic, where he worked since 2005. At Profile Books in the UK, Daniel Crewe has been promoted to publisher. The Guardian has an interesting interview with Random UK ceo Gail Rebuck who is careful and measured in her responses–rightfully so, since the paper strains to misconstrue the piece with the headline “How Gail Rebuck turned Tony Blair’s book into a bestseller.” (Rebuck deflects one line of questioning by replying, “We’re not going to go there. You can ask away and I’ll wander […]