Former book packager at Herter Studio and publishing director at Chronicle Books Caroline Ames Herter, 70, died at her home in Bar Harbor, ME on June 12. Herter’s publishing career began as one of the original booksellers at Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, and she went on to work in sales, marketing, and publishing roles at Harper & Row, Charles Scribner, Simon & Schuster, and Chronicle, where she was instrumental in developing the gift product line that redefined how non-book products were marketed and sold in the bookselling community and how book products were sold in the gift market. Her […]
Obits
Obituary: Frederick Forsyth
Thriller writer Frederick Forsyth, 86, died on June 9 after a brief illness. He wrote 18 espionage thrillers and 24 books in all, which have sold more than 75 million copies worldwide according to the NYT. Many of Forsyth’s novels, including The Day of the Jackal (1971) and The Odessa File (1972), were inspired by his days as a journalist and working with MI6. Putnam will publish the sequel to The Odessa File, REVENGE OF ODESSA, co-written by Tony Kent, on November 18. “Frederick Forsyth was one of the undisputed true giants of international suspense fiction. We shall miss him […]
Obituary: Edmund White
Novelist, essayist and playwright Edmund White, 85, died on June 3 “while waiting for an ambulance after experiencing symptoms of a stomach illness.” White was a pioneering chronicler of gay life, and the author of more than 30 books including Forgetting Elena, A Boy’s Own Story, The Married Man, and many more.
Obituary: Hervé de La Martinière
Hervé de La Martinière, 78, founder of Abrams’s parent company Les Éditions de La Martinière, died on May 8. He began his publishing career at Hachette group at the age of 25, and went on to work at Grasset, Fayard, Chêne, and Nathan, before creating art and illustrated book publisher Les Éditions de La Martinière. The company acquired Abrams in 1997.
Obituary: Andrew Gross
Thriller writer Andrew Gross, 72, died on April 9 at his home in Purchase, NY of a rare form of cancer. He was the author of the Ty Hauck series, plus novels including: Eyes Wide Open, 15 Seconds, No Way Back, and more. He also co-authored books with James Patterson. Before he became a novelist in his 40s, Gross was senior corporate vice president of his family’s successful apparel company, Leslie Fay Inc.
Obituary: Esmond Harmsworth
Literary agent Esmond Harmsworth, 57, died on April 9 of natural causes while on vacation with his family in Mauritius. He founded the literary agency Zachary Shuster Harmsworth in 1997 with Lane Zachary and Todd Shuster. ZSH merged with Kuhn Projects in 2016 to form Aevitas Creative Management. As president at Aevitas, Harmsworth represented authors including Keith McFarland, Amanda Ripley, Hester Young, and Michelle Hoover. “Esmond was a consummate intellectual, a widely beloved representative of scores of authors from across the world, and an absolutely irrepressible bon vivant,” Shuster said. “Through his work as a literary agent, philanthropist, and advocate, […]