The writer died yesterday morning, first announced with “great sadness” in a brief statement from his publisher, Knopf. “John was one of our greatest writers. He was a part of the Knopf family for over fifty years. We will all miss him terribly.” His longtime editor Judith Jones told USA Today that he was diagnosed after Thanksgiving. Coverage, obituaries, and testimonials abound. Among them:AP obitUSA Today storyChristopher Lehmann-Haupt’s NYT obitKakutani‘s appraisalDavid Ulin in the LATAnd The New Yorker has a number of reminiscences from other staff writers posted on their books blog
Personnel
Harper Presents Retirement Offer
This morning HarperCollins presented to US employees internally a voluntary retirement package, available to people over age 55 who have been with the company for more than five years. The offer was made to employees at the company’s New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles offices and their Scranton warehouse. It does not extend to Zondervan or any Harper units outside of the US for now; spokesperson Erin Crum notes that “each business area has different needs and legal requirements.” Noting that they company “has never done anything like this before,” Crum would not indicate a target number of job […]
Saletan to Riverhead
Former publisher at Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Rebecca Saletan will join Riverhead in March. Saletan says, “I have long admired this publisher, and in a very challenging time in the industry I am so thrilled to be at a house that is a paragon of stability and foresight.” She will acquire “a broad range of narrative nonfiction, in such areas as science, travel, natural history, current affairs, the environment and food, as well as literary fiction,” according to the release. Publisher Geoff Kloske says “I’m very pleased to welcome an editor of Becky’s exceptional talent and breadth of experience to Riverhead’s […]
Nelson Leaves PW in RBI Layoffs; Criticas to Stop Printing
Following the suspension of efforts to sell the company last December, Reed Business Information executed layoffs throughout the US division of company yesterday said to comprise 7 percent of employees. The company also is said to have imposed a salary and hiring freeze for 2009. (A separate UK report says that 35 employees were eliminated from that part of the company.) PW’s high-profile editor-in-chief Sara Nelson was among the people laid off. Other reported layoffs at PW include longtime executive editor Daisy Maryles, bookselling editor Kevin Howell, and director of business development Rachel Dicker. From within the same publishing group, […]
People
Headline publishing director Harriet Evans is leaving her job to focus full-time on writing, with her fourth novel due for publication this fall. Correcting yesterday’s report, Victoria Stapleton‘s promotion at Little, Brown Children’s is to associate director, school and library marketing.
People
Psychologist and author Dr. Stanley Fisher, husband of Newmarket Press president and publisher Esther Margolis, died on Tuesday of lung cancer, after a short illness. He was 81. His book DISCOVERING THE POWER OF SELF-HYPNOSIS was first published by HarperCollins in 1991, and in a revised and updated second edition by Newmarket Press in 2000. At Little, Brown Children’s, Andrew Smith has been promoted to deputy publisher. Victoria Stapleton moves up to manager, school and library marketing and Lisa Sabater is now publicity manager.