Personnel News Plume editor-in-chief Trena Keating has been named associate publisher as well, still reporting to Plume and Penguin publisher Kathryn Court. Additionally, Elda Rotor will join the company as executive editor of Penguin Classics, reporting to Penguin associate publisher and editor-in-chief Stephen Morrison. Most recently she has been a senior editor at Oxford University Press, focusing on nonfiction in the humanities including literature, religion, cultural history and philosophy. At Vintage/Anchor, Furaha Norton started last week as an editor. She, too, was previously at Oxford University Press, as an associate editor. Lee Talks Harper Lee gave a blurb for Star […]

On Liz Maguire Elizabeth Maguire, 47, publisher of Basic Books, died Saturday of ovarian cancer. She was also a member of the board of directors of the University of Chicago Press and the board of directors of Columbia University Press. Author of the novel Thinner, Blonder, Whiter, she was working on a novel about the life of Constance Fenimore Woolson. In statement from Basic, her author Michael Eric Dyson calls her “a world-class thinker and my mind’s most faithful companion. She nurtured in me and so many other writers a hunger for conceptual rigor, literary beauty and moral clarity.” Perseus […]

Monday, April 10 FICTION Debut Ray Robinson’s ELECTRICITY, narrated by a 30 year-old epileptic woman estranged from her family and used to scraping by on her own, who must confront the mystery of her past and decide how she wants to live when she learns that her mother is dead, to Amy Hundley at Grove/Atlantic/Black Cat, by Jennifer Carlson at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. mail@dclagency.com Altaf Tyrewala’s NO GOD IN SIGHT, about present-day Bombay told through a series of linked vignettes, to Karan Mahajan at MacAdam/Cage, for publication in fall 2005, in a nice deal, by Penguin India. Debra Finerman’s […]

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National Geographic Unveils New View of Judas The National Geographic Society garners front-page coverage around the country for yesterday’s conference at which they unveiled a restored version of the Gospel of Judas — which asserts that Judas was Jesus’s closest friend rather than a traitor, and that Judas only did what Jesus asked of him: “You will sacrifice the man that clothes me,” Jesus tells him, warning that Judas “will be cursed by the other generations.” NGS says they have invested over $1 million in the project so far. As part of the announcement, they released two related books: THE […]

Coded Numbers Following last week’s release of paperback editions of The Da Vinci Code, there’s an abundance of reports on initial sales. Going from highest to lowest: — Vintage/Anchor publicity director Russell Perreault tells the AP they sold more than 500,000 copies in the first week on sale. No breakdowns between mass market and hardcover were given. — The announced first printing of 5 million copies has been lifted by another million copies. Perreault says they have shipped 5.7 million copies. — The outlets covered by Nielsen Bookscan (which often undercounts mass market books more than others) show sales for […]

Penguin Creates Christian Label We noted in late February that Penguin was at least considering an inspirational imprint and today the company has announced the creation of Penguin Praise, a Christian publishing program. Joel Fontinos will serve as publisher, and Berkley editor Denise Silvestro will be executive editor for the line. Rather than an entirely freestanding publishing program, Praise books will often be issued in conjunction with other Penguin Group imprints and the launch program includes existing Penguin Group authors such as T.D. Jakes and Reverend Don Piper. Putnam/Praise has licensed exclusive trade rights to the Contemporary English Version (CEV) […]