New York was a vast improvement over Chicago; despite some wide aisles there was energy in the hall and lines for autographing were as long as ever, though hard to say exactly who was doing the waiting. But what struck me most was the standing room-only attendance at the Adult Editors’ Book Buzz, which has…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Between the Random/Ballantine merger and the “Voluntary Retirement” package, insiders say that the total number of exiting employees is cresting thirty, including Howard Weill (Hweill@optonline.net), Mike Moran (mmoran123@aol.com), Ivan Held (IvanHeld@yahoo.com), Dan Rembert (Drem3ert@earthlink.net), Kathleen Spinelli (kspinelli@ mac.com), Susan Gilmer (susan@gilmer.com), Barbara Greenberg, Erica Muncy, and editors Tracy Brown (Tracy_Brown03@msn.com) and Dan Smetanka. The…Continue Reading
PEOPLE We will skip over the Thomas Middelhoff debacle, and move on to some moves that are less well covered, including that by a Middelhoff chronicler: The NYT’s David Kirkpatrick is leaving the Book Beat, to cover media, focusing on AOL Time Warner, along with Vivendi, Bertelsmann, and News Corp. His replacement will be named…Continue Reading
Blowin’ in the Wind Grandes Gusts in Spain, Bewitchery in Greece, And Crazy Birds Flutter Aloft in Israel Breezes, gales, gusts, and tempests swirl like suspicious characters through this month’s bestselling Spanish novel Difficult Airs, the latest effort from well-known erotica queen Almudena Grandes. The author’s fifth novel sets out to map the meaning of…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
