“No. 1 French bestseller” does not necessarily guarantee a novel sales, or even publication, in English-speaking parts of the world, as the Guardian notes: “Fiction in translation is not an easy sell to us Brits, and French fiction is perhaps the hardest sell of all.” The subject is small UK press Gallic Books’ release of Muriel Barbery’s THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG. (It’s published by Europa Editions in the US.) “Barbery’s novel, which takes as its unprepossessing subject an ugly, plump concierge and a 12-year-old girl who plans to commit suicide on her 13th birthday, has spent 102 weeks on […]
People
Words without Borders has appointed Joshua Mandelbaum as managing director. He has been ad director at Poets & Writers Magazine since 2004. Rohan Kamicheril, a WWB volunteer since 2006, has been appointed editor. He continues to work full time in the sales department at Penguin. Tim Sullivan has joined Basic Books as executive editor, focusing on economics, business, politics, and sociology. He spent six months at Portfolio (where his acquisitions included Mike Huckabee’s memoir Do The Right Thing) after working at the Princeton University Press from 2000 to 2008. Taunton Press has promoted Allison Hollett to the newly created position […]
Spears Book Is the Embargo to Break
You didn’t see it on most of the fall preview round-ups, but the press has ample space for anything Spears and the AP has gotten a copy of Lynne Spears’ book THROUGH THE STORM well in advance of the September 16 laydown: Spears presents herself as a loving, selfless (she gave up her job as a school teacher for her daughter’s sake) but increasingly powerless parent. After the jolting, but pleasant surprise of Britney Spears’ debut smash, … Baby One More Time, Lynne Spears says she felt she was losing control when a 1999 Rolling Stone magazine story featured a […]
National Book Foundation Honors Kingston and Rosset
At this year’s National Book Awards ceremonies on November 19, the National Book Foundation will give its Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to Maxine Hong Kingston “in recognition of her outstanding achievements as a writer of fiction, memoir, and nonfiction.” Publisher Barney Rosset will receive the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. Executive director Harold Augenbraum says in the announcement, “This year’s distinguished honorees broke new ground in American literary publishing. Kingston exposed the great story of American immigration to a new, rich blend of fiction, memory, folk-tale and political idea. Rosset opened a […]
First Lady Bios, First on Kindle
Globe Pequot is releasing biographies of the two potential First Ladies Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama as Amazon Kindle exclusives in advance of the print releases. Elizabeth Lightfoot‘s Michelle Obama: Grace and Intelligence in a Time of Change is available electronically today, with an announced print release date of November 26. Alicia Colon’s Cindy McCain: Elegance, Good Will and Hope for a New America will be available on Kindle on September 15, but “will only go to print if John McCain wins the election.” Amazon release
Palin Book Moves to Tyndale
Tyndale House has taken over distribution of Epicenter Press’s biography SARAH: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down as of today. They are shipping what they say is a 250,000-copy printing (under a new ISBN of 978-1-4143-3050-1). Epicenter had been fulfilling through Graphic Arts Center Publishing and Ingram Publisher Services.Release