As Andrew Wylie prepares to take over the Roberto Bolano estate and sell newly “discovered” works (per the story we cited earlier), the Observer visits with New Directions editor-in-chief Barbara Epler, who first published Bolano in the US. She originally acquired BY NIGHT IN CHILE from Christopher MacLehose at Harvill Press, along with two other books–and then went on to acquire rights to all but the “major” works, Savage Detectives and the forthcoming 2666 from agent Carmen Balcells. In all New Directions controls “seven short novels, two books of short stories, an essay collection and a volume of poetry called […]
People
David Moldawer has joined Portfolio as an editor, reporting to publisher Adrian Zackheim, acquiring business titles with a special focus on the Internet and new media, creativity, productivity, management and leadership, and marketing. He was at St. Martin’s. Packager Carter Smith died suddenly at home on October 7. In 1970, he founded Media Projects, one of the first independent book production companies in the US, which he ran for 30 years. In 1980, he helped found the American Book Producers Association, and served as its first president.Notice Erik Riesenberg has been promoted to Random House national accounts manager for Baker […]
Amazon UK Features Harper's Victoria Barnsley
Right there on their home page. The letter offers “an exclusive peek” at her “pick of the year.” And she picks what Oprah picked: David Wrobleski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. And in other Amazon news, the company has acquired electronic game developer Reflexive Games, for undisclosed terms.
Canseco Expresses Regret
After two books worth of milking his steroid accusations (one successful; the second, less so), former baseball player Jose Canseco now says in an A&E documentary he “regrets mentioning players [as steroid users]. I never realized this was going to blow up and hurt so many people.” Oddly, in this ESPN write-up, Canseco says he would “apologize” to the baseball players named in his first book (Mark McGwire and others)–most of whom continue to be suspected or confirmed as one-time steroid users–but there’s no mention of players like Alex Rodriguez, accused in the more thinly-grounded second book JUICED. More to […]
More on Pat Kavanagh
The Guardian says the agent Pat Kavanagh’s death was due to a brain tumor, which the Times adds was diagnosed just five weeks ago. The Independent notes that “she had collapsed in the street two weeks ago and was staying in the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. Friends and family were privately told last week that her tumor was inoperable.” She was 68. They share testimonials from clients including Blake Morrison, Robert Harris, and Hermione Lee. Short story writer Helen Simpson, among visitors to Kavanagh’s home today, said: “It has been so very quick. It’s been like […]
Walesa Autobiography Rejects Agent Charge
In his just released autobiography, former Polish president Lech Walesa vigorously denies charges that he collaborated with the country’s secret policy for two years and informed on shipyard workers. “I want everything to be known, precisely,” Walesa writes. The AP says that, “In the book, he writes that, following his arrest in December 1970, authorities offered to release him from prison if he signed some documents. ‘I did not think long. I did not even read them,’ Walesa writes. ‘I signed a number of papers on leaving the arrest, which was a standard procedure. … I remember there were many […]