Earlier this month, author Jeffrey Archer filed suit in London’s High Court against his former literary agency, Curtis Brown UK, claiming they owe him £538,486 in alleged underpayments since they began representing him in 2002, plus interest on those funds of over £250,000. Archer also seeks damages for breach of duty, and a formal declaration that his representation by Curtis Brown UK ended last March. The Evening Standard ran the first report on the case six days ago. Archer’s attorney James Ramsden QC tells the court the issue was first discovered during a 2018 audit by Mitchell Rights Management. He […]
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Florian Illies, publisher of Rowohlt in Germany, will step down “at his own request…at some later point this year.” Illies became publisher in January 2019, following the dismissal of publisher Barbara Laugwitz the previous August, a controversial selection at the time. Nicola Bartels will succeed him as publisher starting July 1. Bartels was most recently publisher at Random House Germany. Illies said in a statement, “I am leaving Rowohlt for personal reasons and I’ll do so with a heavy heart. After careful consideration, I have decided it is the time for a new beginning and to dedicate myself to my […]
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Helen Richard O’Hare will join Mulholland Books and Little, Brown as editor starting February 3. She was formerly associate editor at Putnam. Randi Kramer has been promoted to assistant editor at Celadon Books. At St. Martin’s Meghan Harrington has been promoted to publicist and Clare Mauer to associate publicist. At Scholastic Trade, Mary Kate Garmire has joined as production editor. She was previously development editor at Oxford University Press. Jake Snyder has joined as production editor. He was previously at SaveAround where he managed the production of fundraising publications. Shannon Pender has been promoted to marketing associate, young adult. Caroline Noll becomes […]
Flatiron Cancels Two American Dirt Events, As Oprah Promises “A Deeper and More Substantive Conversation” In March
Objections to Jeanine Cummins’ novel AMERICAN DIRT continue to reverberate as the author is in the midst of an extensive national tour. Publisher Flatiron Books cancelled her scheduled Monday night appearance at Warwick’s in La Jolla, CA, which had been listed as “full,” and Tuesday night’s event to be held by Vroman’s. Warwick’s indicated the publisher’s decision was “due to safety concerns.” Events at two other California booksellers are still on the schedule for later this week. Separately, Sunday’s offsite event in conjunction with Left Bank Books in St. Louis, MO was cancelled by the store, following “posts on social […]
Cummins Addresses AMERICAN DIRT Controversy at Winter Institute
A small, heavily overflowing room greeted AMERICAN DIRT author Jeanine Cummins at Winter Institute 15 in Baltimore on Wednesday for a charged, emotional and timely session originally envisioned as Creating Conversations Around American Dirt. Booksellers in the audience brought both palpable support but also raw and candid questions to the session, and Cummins responded in kind with thoughtful and emotional responses. As bookseller Javier Ramirez from Madison Street Books in Chicago noted in introducing Cummins, long before the Oprah pick and other attention — and controversy — AMERICAN DIRT had received “more Indie Next recommendations than any book in recent […]
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At Random House Children’s, Jennifer Baker has joined as a managing editor. She was previously production editor for Teachers College Press. Jinna Shin has been promoted to assistant art director; Bob Bianchini to senior designer; April Ward to senior art director; Nicole de las Heras to senior art director; Tracy Tyler to senior executive art director; Roberta Ludlow to executive art director; and Alison Kolani to executive director, copyediting. Sara Birmingham has been promoted to associate editor at Ecco. Ben LeRoy has joined Crooked Lane Books as senior acquisitions editor focusing on crime fiction. He was previously founder and publisher of […]