Owner of former Pittsburgh bookstore Jay’s Book Stall (opened in 1959, closed in 2008) Jay Dantry, 87, died on Sunday after a long illness. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes, “Under his guidance, Jay’s Book Stall became one of the premier bookstores in the country, a mandatory stop in Pittsburgh for touring writers.” Michael Chabon adds, “I’ll always be grateful to him for the year I spent working at the Book Stall…. The staff wasn’t like a family, it was a family.” Former literary agent Peter Janson-Smith, 93, has died. He worked for A D Peters and Curtis Brown UK before setting up […]
Obits
People, Etc.
Theresa Collier will join Artisan as senior publicist & associate marketing manager on April 1. Previously she was a publicist at Bloomsbury. Alexandra Primiani has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as publicist. She was previously in the publicity department at Riverhead. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Imre Kertesz, 86, died Thursday at his home in Budapest. The LA Times announced its new roster of critics-at-large, featuring 10 writers who “have beautiful voices, brilliant minds, critical insights and strong opinions.” They are Marlon James, Laila Lalami, John Scalzi, Susan Straight, Alexander Chee, Viet Thanh Nguyen, David Kipen, Rigoberto Gonzalez, Rebecca […]
People: Obits for Ellen Seligman, Jim Harrison, and More
McClelland & Stewart publisher Ellen Seligman died on Friday, the publisher reported. PRH Canada president Kristin Cochrane wrote to staff: “Ellen was widely recognized as one of the world’s best editors, with impeccable literary taste and instincts. Her passion for nurturing and developing Canadian writers was renowned, as was her commitment to publishing in Canada both new and established writers from around the world.” She also notes, “No one who knew Ellen will be surprised to learn that she spent many of her last days meticulously overseeing the final details for her fall books. With extraordinary passion and care, Ellen completed the edit of Steven […]
On Pat Conroy, 70, and More
Author Pat Conroy‘s pancreatic cancer advanced far more quickly than expected when he announced his condition to fans in mid-February, and he died Friday evening at his home in Beaufort, SC. His longtime editor and publisher Nan Talese said in a brief statement, “Pat has been my beloved friend and author for 35 years, spanning his career from THE PRINCE OF TIDES to today. He will be cherished as one of America’s favorite and bestselling writers, and I will miss him terribly.” Penguin Random House has dedicated its sales conference, ongoing throughout this week, to Conroy. At Sunday night’s opening night dinner, ceo […]
People, Etc.
Picador USA associate editor PJ Horoszko, 27, died unexpectedly March 2 in Brooklyn. Stephen Morrison, Picador Publisher, said in a statement: “PJ was a wonderful young editor on the rise with a keen eye, boundless curiosity, and fierce advocacy on behalf of his authors. He was also an absolute pleasure to work with. PJ is going to be deeply missed by all of us at Picador and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.” In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Newtown Youth & Family Services, 15 Berkshire Road, Sandy Hook CT 06482. Scholastic announced a number of […]
People, Etc.
Sam Im has been promoted to director, digital strategy & business development at Random House Children’s. Adrienne Szpyrka has been promoted to editor at Sky Pony Press. Rachel Zugschwert has joined Sparkhouse Family as director of marketing. Previously, she was marketing manager at Consortium. In Amazon‘s continuing rollout of staffed “pickup locations” on college campuses, the company announced an agreement to open a facility at the University of Texas at Austin in summer 2016. (In January, they announced new locations for the University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Davis and the University of California, Berkeley. Obituary Former literary agent Ginger Barber, […]