Author Sallie Bingham, 88, died on Wednesday of a stroke. She wrote plays, novels, short stories, and nonfiction. Her memoir Passion & Prejudice accused her family, a powerful Louisville newspaper dynasty, of misogyny and racism. He most recent book is Little Brother (Sarabande), about the life and early death of her younger brother.
Obits
Obituary: Ann Harris
Editor Ann Harris, 99, died on June 1 at home in Manhattan. She started in publishing in 1952 and worked at Harper & Row and Bantam before retiring. She edited classics including William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds, and Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes.
Obituary: Sophie Stabile
Lagardere chief financial officer Sophie Stabile, 55, has died. The company expressed “their deep sadness” at her passing and “offer their condolences to her family and loved ones.” CEO Arnaud Lagardère said in a statement: “Having joined Lagardère in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, Sophie Stabile did remarkable work to help the Group bounce back. She also knew how to rally her teams around ambitious projects to optimize financial and operational performance. For several years, she fought courageously against her illness with the same energy. My thoughts and those of the Group’s employees are with her family and loved […]
Obituary: Paulette Jiles
Poet and author Paulette Jiles, 82, died on July 8 in San Antonio. She recently posted on her blog that she was diagnosed with “some kind of non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.” Jiles’s literary output included poetry, memoirs, Westerns, and science fiction. She was the first American to receive Canada’s Governor General’s Award for her poetry collection Celestial Navigation and her 2016 novel, News of the World, was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Obituary: Martin Cruz Smith
Novelist Martin Cruz Smith, 82, died on July 11. Smith wrote more than 30 books, including the Arkady Renko thriller series, which began with the #1 bestseller Gorky Park (1981) and ended with HOTEL UKRAINE, which was published last week. He was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2019. Smith lived with Parkinson’s since 1995 and incorporated the disease into Renko’s character in later books. “He was a writer, and he did it beautifully and valiantly until the very end,” Smith’s editor, Simon & Schuster publisher Sean Manning, said.
Obituary: Katie Cunningham
Nosy Crow publisher Katie Cunningham, 43, died on July 4 following complications of ovarian cancer. She joined Nosy Crow in March, after a long career at Candlewick Press, where she started as an intern in 2003 and rose to become svp, editorial and associate publisher. Titles she developed went on to win a Stonewall Book Award, a Schneider Family Book Award, a Michael L. Printz Honor Award, and the Kirkus Prize, among other accolades. Nosy Crow president John Mendelson said, “It’s difficult to convey not only Katie’s extraordinary talent as an editor and publisher, but also the light she brought […]