Stephanie Hargadon has been promoted to associate publicist at Macmillan Auiod, replacing Liz Noland, who is leaving the company to attend graduate school. Linda Clark Associates has been appointed as scout for Editora Gente in Brazil.
Retail News: Comps Fall at WH Smith; Borders UK Back on the Block?: and More
WH Smith issued a brief trading update covering the first 13 weeks of the second half of the financial year” (e.g. their third quarter). At their high street stores, same-store sales fell 5 percent, while comps fell 2 percent at their travel stores.Company site Also in the UK, Borders UK has hired Clearwater Corporate Finance as an adviser. A Borders spokesperson claims the goal is to “seek out funding opportunities”; the Independent says more bluntly their job is “to conduct a potential sale of the 51-store business…although a sales memorandum has not yet been sent out.” The newspaper reported recently […]
People and Awards
Marilynne Robinson‘s HOME won the UK’s Orange Prize for the best novel written by a woman. The Guardian opines that “the strength of American writing this year once again calls into question the exclusion of US writers from the Booker prize, which allows only Commonwealth entries.” (Also remember the basic rule of thumb; favorites never win the Booker, but usually do win the Orange.)Guardian Evan Goldfried has joined Jill Grinberg Literary Management as an agent after five years at William Morris. He is representing genre fiction and graphic novels for all ages, as well as nonfiction including food, health, humor […]
Friedman, Morrison and Lebowitz Promote New Council to Fight for Free Speech
“It’s just been too quiet,” former HarperCollins ceo Jane Friedman said at a party at her house last night to help launch the Free Speech Leadership Council–which she is chairing–of the National Coalition Against Censorship. “I don’t like being quiet,” Friedman added. “How can you be a publisher and not care about this? Friedman was introduced to the group by Chip Gibson at Random House, and others from book publishing becoming involved include Vicky Wilson, Binky Urban, Peter Workman, Larry Kirshbaum. The event also launched BURN THIS BOOK, an anthology prepared in conjunction with the PEN American Center just published […]
Salinger Stories
A few more bits to share on this case. In reviewing the full complaint filed by JD Salinger’s attorneys seeking to stop publication of JD California’s unauthorized sequel, it is noted that last October Salinger created a literary trust and assigned to it the copyright for all of his works. The true story on “California” remains elusive. Salinger’s attorneys believed him to be living in New York, but the AP contacts him by telephone in Sweden. When they ask “he declined to offer his real name”–but a few days ago he insisted to the Telegraph “My initials really are JD, […]
eNews: Indigo to Launch Their Own Device
CEO of dominant Canadian retailer Indigo Heather Reisman disclosed after a TV interview today that the company is “in final talks with a number of e-book reader manufacturers and will be choosing one to launch as their own in Canada by the end of this year.” Reisman indicated that neither Sony nor Amazon will be their partner.CTV tech blog