Time Regained Eco Back in Italy, Dahl Redux in Spain, and Harry Potter Everywhere Else Umberto Eco is at it again. Romance, that is. His fourth such novel to date — featuring the picaresque adventures of the title character, Baudolino — has hit the stands in Italy, and we’re told its pages are bursting with…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Lots of HarperCollins news, beginning with Larry Ashmead’s announcement that he will retire as of the end of 2001. He turns 69 next July 4, and with “almost all my longtime authors publishing their books next year,” including Tony Hillerman, Simon Winchester, Susan Forward, and Susan Isaacs — not to mention a newer Ashmead…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Rosanna Hansen has been named SVP, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Weekly Reader Corp. She left Reader’s Digest Children’s last month. . . Liz Maguire is leaving Free Press for Basic, where she will be Associate Publisher, Editorial Director. . . Since Abrams bought STC and Smithmark, there have been several casualties, including SVP Director…Continue Reading
Spiritus Mundiw Chimoni’s French Miracle, Lama Love in Germany, and Italy’s Sci-Fi Satire Anyone out there remember Mr. God This Is Anna, a UK bestseller for Holt in 1975 that’s been in print at Ballantine since 1976? Well, it’s back to the future in France, where a similar title has just been published: Annaëlle Chimoni’s…Continue Reading
As PowerfulMedia’s Inside.com launches in the next week(s), look for Publishing Trends columns, which will run periodically during the month. PEOPLE Maureen Golden is leaving Workman Publishing at the end of May, after less than nine months in the company. Golden was previously at B&N. . . Also leaving in late May is Paula Duffy,…Continue Reading
PEOPLE This month, the announcement of the millennium comes from Penguin Putnam, which has hired retired Commanding General Gilbert S. Harper of the US Army as VP for warehousing and fulfillment. Responsibilities in his previous life included “designing the Army’s next generation distribution architecture.” Industry watchers like the image of the soldier reporting to our…Continue Reading
Apocalypse Now Amnesia Hits Spain, Horror Bloodies France, and Pokémon Ravages Australia Perhaps in compensation for the underwhelming arrival of Y2K, this month’s bestsellers have registered a potent desire for all those missed connections, fatal errors, and world-historical upheavals we were so tantalizingly promised. In Spain, Nativel Preciado’s The Narcissist plunges into the abyss of…Continue Reading
PEOPLE A month into the naughts, let’s recap some recent moves: Greg Tobin leaves Ballantine after seven months as VP, Editor in Chief, to try his hand as a full time author. He has a two-book contract with St. Martin’s/Tor Books’ Tom Doherty. . . . Alun Davies, longtime head of BDD’s international division, moves…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Other than arch rivals co-venturing (viz. BOMC and the Doubleday Clubs) and sales departments reorganizing (first Random, then Harper, then S&S. . . ), it’s been a quiet few weeks. Well, not exactly quiet: First, word came that B&N’s David Cully was going to Lechters as President and COO, and then S&S announced that…Continue Reading
