Jovanovich Will Leave Pearson Head of Pearson’s education unit Peter Jovanovich, 55, is resigning, in the wake of continuing medical complications following a double-lung transplant almost a year ago. Divisional heads will now report directly to Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino, as was the case during Jovanovich’s lengthy leave-of-absence. As Pearson’s largest and most important division, the educational unit yields about 60 percent of the company’s sales (and an even larger share of its profits); a predicted resurgence in US educational markets has been billed as a key to Pearson’s 2005 performance. Reuters report Borders’ Nonfiction Pick Borders has been oddly […]

New and Proposed: On Brando, Cheney’s Trail, and Davis Marlon Brando’s former Tahitian wife (and mother of his children Cheyenne and Teihotu) Tarita Teriipaia’s memoir MARLON, MY LOVE, MY SUFFERING, has just been published in France by XO Editions, in a first printing of 50,000 copies. She tells Paris Match, “We lived terrible tragedies and we all suffered a lot. Marlon never spoke about it. I wanted our children, all our grand-children to know our history.” The publisher is said to be “in talks” about translation rights. Reuters Dick Cheney’s daughter Mary is shopping a book proposal about her days […]

S&S In DisneyWar Skirmish Based on advance looks at portions of James Stewart’s embargoed March 7 release DISNEYWAR, Disney representatives are said to have “contacted Stewart to dispute certain aspects of the book” and at least threatened S&S with the possibility of legal action — while Simon & Schuster has warned Disney not to mess with its launch. S&S publisher David Rosenthal tells the LA Times, “We have informed Disney that they have an unauthorized copy of [James Stewart’s DISNEYWAR, embargoed until its March 7 release] and put them on notice not to disseminate it,” adding that, “It’s ours, and […]

Prize News Edwidge Danticat won the first $20,000 Story Prize for THE DEW BREAKER. The Quill Awards get covered in multiple places but, sadly, the place we still think of as “the paper of record” yet again blows a simple publishing story by misinterpreting a press release. The NYT incorrectly attributes the announcement — and by implication the whole awards program — to “a new philanthropy called the Quills Literacy Foundation.” Yes, the press release (which we linked to yesterday) is a little fuzzy on who really owns this program and what its true purposes are. But as we reported, […]

Small Island is Big Winner For whatever reason, the UK’s Whitbread Award tends to honor the favorite much more than other British prizes. Thus 4/5 candidate Andrea Levy claimed the overall prize for SMALL ISLAND, making her the first person to win both the Orange and the Whitbread for the same book. Levy noted in accepting the award: “I’m just happy this money [25,000 pounds] will enable me to write a new book.” Head of the judging panel Sir Trevor McDonald called it, “A brilliantly observed novel of a period of English history that many people seem not to know […]

Counting Harry Scholastic has provided a page count for HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE: 672 pages. A “special edition,” priced at $60, will have an extra 32-page insert with black and white art. Scholastic page Self-Published Treasure Trove The AP picks up on the surprise success of Michael Stadther’s self-published A TREASURE’S TROVE, a Masquerade-esque story that provides clues to 12 hidden gold tokens (which entitle the winners to 12 jewel-encrusted creatures). He reports selling 100,000 copies of books in three editions relating to the hunt. (Midpoint is distributing, and agent Bob Diforio reports over 300,000 copies in print […]