Charles McGrath celebrates the colorful life of publisher Barney Rosset in advance of his lifetime achievement award from the National Book Foundation. He quotes the old line of Rosset’s, “I had a very good publishing career, but not money-wise. We got rid of the money.” On his landmark legal battle for the right to publish Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer–which inspires in the print headline that Rosset “fought Puritanism, and won,” Rosset’s take is, “I loved that book. When I was a young man, it never occurred to me that it was about sex. What interested me was that Miller […]
Personnel
Judy Blume, at Blumesday
The LAT covers “a sold-out event celebrating the 70th birthday of the bestselling author” Judy Blume, dubbed Blumesday. Like Barney Rosset, Blume fought a kind of Puritanism: “Blume took them on, boldly going where young adult fiction had previously feared to tread, writing in the first person on topics that had long been taboo. In the process, she earned a following so devoted that 30-plus years later, many of her original readers still can’t get enough. “This was definitely the case at M Bar, where a packed house listened to readings and watched comedic reenactments of scenes from their favorite […]
People
At HarperCollins’ Speakers Bureau, Julie Elmuccio has been promoted to assistant manager, while Blair Bryant Nichols moves up to coordinator. Director Jamie Brickhouse, who has signed on an additional 75 authors since his arrival in 2006, has been made a vice president. Also at Harper, Frank Albanese has been promoted to svp, supply chain. He has been at Harper since 1994. Ron Longe has joined Media Masters Publicity, which specializes in children’s books and graphic novels, as account director. He was most recently publicity director for Workman and Artisan. In the UK, Vintage publishing director Rachel Cugnoni has been named […]
Scholastic's Plan to Trim Workforce
As part of their previously announced plan to reduce costs by $25 million to $30 million, Scholastic ceo Dick Robinson has written to employees to explain a four-part workforce reduction “which we believe is balanced and respectful to employees, retains as many jobs as possible, and reflects the spirit of Scholastic while meeting our financial requirements in a difficult economy.” The measures include a voluntary resignation offer for employees over 50 who have been with the company at least 10 years and are “considering retirement or other career options”; a freeze on new hires (openings will be filled from within […]
People and Distribution
At Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, agent Michael Bourret has been named vice president and Lauren Abramo has been promoted to subsidiary rights director (both started their careers at the agency). Agent Jessica Papin is rejoining the agency after a three-year stint in international rights sales for the American University in Cairo. Dan Ambrosio has left Vigliano Associates to join Wiley as an editor. At Westwood Creative Artists, Jackie Kaiser has become a shareholder in the agency and is now a vice president. She has been at WCA for eight year, representing literary fiction; narrative nonfiction; and selected writing for […]
Penguin Expands eSpecials Under Barton
Penguin Group has given publisher manager Molly Barton the additional new role of associate publisher of eSpecials. A program that started with the freestanding sale of Alan Greenspan’s new epilogue for the paperback edition of The Age of Turbulence, sold electronically for five dollars, the eSpecials will extend beyond Penguin Press as original announced as a “service to writers across all of its imprints.” They say other specials from Christine Feehan, Jan Karon and Patricia Briggs “are already in the works” and that the program will range from “important updates to nonfiction works to unknown novellas by bestselling novelists.”