Matthew Benjamin is moving to Touchstone on December 13 as senior editor, reporting to Trish Todd. He has been at HarperCollins, most recently as senior editor at William Morrow. At Touchstone, he will focus on acquiring men’s interest, celebrity, pop culture, sports, health, and investigative journalism. Allison Lorentzen is joining Penguin Books as editor. SHe was most recently an associate editor at HarperCollins. She will be acquiring both fiction and nonfiction titles, as well as working closely with Kathryn Court on Viking and Penguin acquisitions. The Lambda Literary Awards will be the new home for the Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists’ Prize, […]
Awards
Jaimy Gordon and Patti Smith Win NBA Awards
Last year the books that had sold the best won the two main National Book Awards but this year provide pointed contrast, with the novel that had sold the least paired with the nonfiction book that sold the most. Jaimy Gordon’s just-released LORD OF MISRULE from McPherson, with three-digit print sales in its first two weeks on the market, prevailed in the fiction category. Meanwhile, Patti Smith’s award-winning nonfiction title JUST KIDS had already outsold the rest of the nonfiction field combined. Paperback rights to Gordon’s book were sold to Vintage earlier this month (with her next book sold separately […]
Warren’s Debut Wins Governor General’s Award; Costa Shortlists
Dianne Warren‘s debut novel COOL WATER (Harper Canada/Phyllis Bruce Books) won the Governor General’s Award for fiction. As the National Post points out, Kathleen Winter’s debut novel ANNABEL was the only book nominated for all three of Canada’s major literary prizes, but has not won any of the honors.Full GG winners The Costa Book Awards shortlists for five categories were just announced in the UK. Winners will be named on January 5, with the overall Costa winner to be picked on January 25.Among the candidates: First Novel Witness the Night, by Kishwar Desai Coconut Unlimited, by Nikesh Shukla The Temple-Goers, […]
Canada Gets their Giller-Winner In Stock
As promised last week, publisher of Giller-winning THE SENTIMENTALISTS Gaspereau Press announced today that they have licensed trade paperback rights to another independent publisher, Vancouver’s Douglas & McIntyre. D&M says they are printing 30,000 copies of the $19.95 (CA) paperback for shipment from the bindery on November 19, with paper on hand for a 20,000-copy reprint. The book has been available in ebook form in Canada from Kobo, and D&M will expand distribution to include Kindle, Nook, Sony and the iBookstore. Gaspereau will continue to fulfill orders for their $27.95 hardcover, which they print themselves.
Giller Controversy Continues, In Two Forms
The Canadian trade continues to be worked up that small “artisanal” Gaspereau Press doesn’t want to change their bookmaking ways now that Johanna Skibsrud’s The Sentimentalists has won the Giller Prize. Award founder Jack Rabinovitch made it clear to co-owner Gary Dunfield, “I would like to see the books out.” And he tells the Globe and Mail, “he’s given me the assurance and he promised to get back to me tomorrow [Friday] night.” But Dunfield tells the paper, “I think at this point we’re deciding early next week,” having already said he and his partner were looking at “three or […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Yes, the NYT foray into the wilds of Brooklyn is comedy gold, but we’ll leave the wisecracks up to individual readers. On the straight-faced side, take note that David Black managed to get the city to provide tax incentives of $3,000 per employee per year for the next 12 years to relocate from Manhattan.NYT Children’s publishing veteran Lori Benton has been named vp, publisher for the Scholastic Trade Publishing division, overseeing all imprints and reporting to president Ellie Berger. Benteon starts January 3. Most recently she was general manager and publisher of the fiction division of Capstone Publishers, and is […]