Harpercollins | The New York Observer

Daniel Mendelsohn Sells Book on Greek Literature to Simon & Schuster

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:19:49 -0400

The critic and memoirist Daniel Mendelsohn is writing a book about Greek literature for Simon & Schuster. Mr. Mendelsohn published his last major work of nonfiction, The Lost, with the flagship imprint of HarperCollins, but was apparently unsatisfied with the offer that his editor there, Tim Duggan, made on the new book based on the proposal submitted to him by the literary agent Lydia Wills of Paradigm.

Tentatively titled Odysseys: Adventures...

Collins Casualty Bruce Nichols Named Publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:25:07 -0400

After more than six months without a publisher, the trade division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced today that Bruce Nichols, late of HarperCollins, has been hired for the position. Mr. Nichols, who is on vacation and could not immediately be reached for comment, replaces Becky Saletan, who resigned in December and joined Penguin's Riverhead imprint in January as editorial director.

Mr. Nichols has been at sea at HarperCollins ever since the company’s...

Gal-ographer Sheila Weller Scraps Michelle O. Bio, Sells Another on Power Broadcasting Trio

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:42:37 -0400

According to sources at HarperCollins, the author Sheila Weller has decided not to write a planned biography of Michelle Obama for the Collins division.

Ms. Weller, a contributing editor at Glamour and author of six other books (including one about the marriage of O. J. Simpson and Nicole Brown and a best seller called Girls Like Us, a three-way biography of Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon) was able to back out of the...

Leggo My Eggers: Author Snatches Back Wild Things Novel From HarperCollins Corporate Jaws

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:36:53 -0400

In late 2006, the Ecco Press imprint of HarperCollins acquired a novelization of the classic Maurice Sendak children’s book Where the Wild Things Are, by McSweeney’s editor Dave Eggers, conceived as a companion piece to the forthcoming Wild Things movie that Mr. Eggers co-wrote with Spike Jonze. The deal was announced a year later, with much fanfare, at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Talking about the project, Mr. Eggers seemed a little squeamish about having...

HarperCollins Wants to Be Your Friend

Tue, 12 May 2009 17:30:41 -0400

"I get a lot of, ‘Can you tell me about the Internet?’ ‘Do you think we need to Twitter?’ ‘Do I need to blog?’ I get a lot of that—a lot, a lot, a lot of that. They don’t believe that it’ll work, they don’t believe that you have to do it. And to me it’s like, ‘Don’t you see the sky is blue?’”

Sitting in her office last week on the 26th...

Lunchtime Talk on Digital Marketing for Books Attracts Dozens of Young, Nervous Publishing People

Thu, 07 May 2009 10:52:59 -0400

Debbie Stier, the director of digital marketing at HarperCollins, gave a talk yesterday to an audience of publishing people eager to learn how to use the Web to promote their books. Ms. Stier, who is also the associate publisher of the experimentally minded HarperStudio imprint, spoke enthusiastically and hopefully about the potential that new Web applications and mobile devices have to build audiences and attract the attention of readers.

"I think people...

Choire Sicha, An Ancestor of Ephemeral Gawker, Writes a Book

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:06:37 -0400

Choire Sicha is finally writing a book. He has never wanted to before, but now he does. It's going to be about being young in recession-era New York, and it will be published through the HarperStudio imprint of HarperCollins when he finishes his reporting about a year from now.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Sicha said the as-yet-untitled book will follow a group of 20-somethings as they try to make their lives...

Memo to HarperCollins: Don’t Sit on Roberts’ A-Rod Book!

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:47:19 -0400

In the late-afternoon hours of March 10, executives at the publishing house HarperCollins met to resolve a changeable dilemma: When to publish its bombshell biography of Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez by Selena Roberts, the star Sports Illustrated reporter who broke the story of Mr. Rodriguez’s use of performance-enhancing drugs?

She’d been on contract to write the book as of the fall of 2008, but her reporting gained urgency as she continued work...

William Morrow Acquires Book on Orphans in Nepal For More Than $1 Million

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:21:45 -0500

Just over a week after selling Kathy Griffin’s memoir for more than $2 million dollars, rookie Endeavor literary agent Trena Keating has closed another seven figure deal, this one for the story of Conor Grennan, an American who volunteered in Nepal after college and later opened his own orphanage in Katmandu.

Ms. Keating, who was the editor-in-chief at Dutton before joining Endeavor last September, sold Mr. Grennan’s book at auction on Friday, Feb....

The Observer's Own Adam Begley to Write Updike Bio for HarperCollins

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:00:08 -0500

Adam Begley, The Observer's longtime book review editor, has signed on with HarperCollins to write a biography of John Updike, who died last month of lung cancer at the age of 76. Mr. Begley sold the book through the literary agent George Borchardt, and will be edited by Tim Duggan. The publication date is set for 2011.

Speaking from his home in London, Mr. Begley said Mr. Duggan first approached him about doing a book...

Amid Restructuring, HarperCollins Dismantles Third-Wheel Division

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:00:46 -0500

A fire broke out Monday, Feb. 9, around 11 p.m. on a construction site next door to the HarperCollins offices. Then, the next morning, the publishing house’s U.S. president, Michael Morrison, sent a memo to staff saying that a massive reorganization of the company was under way and that Collins, one of three divisions in the building dedicated to adult books, was being dismantled.

It came as a...

Steve Ross and Lisa Gallagher Out at HarperCollins Amid Major Restructuring

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:20:01 -0500

HarperCollins announced a major restructuring this morning that will see the four-year-old Collins division folded under the jurisdiction of Harper publisher Jonathan Burnham.

Lisa Gallagher, the head of the William Morrow group, has also been laid off, and the division will move under Avon publisher Liate Stehlik.

Much more on the ramifications of this soon. For now, the memo from HarperCollins number two Michael Morrison.

MEMORANDUM

February 10, 2009

David Hirshey Victorious As HarperCollins Beauty Contest For $2.5 Million Sarah Silverman Book Finally Ends

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:15:44 -0500

Nearly a month of suspense at 10 East 53rd Street came to a close yesterday when HarperCollins house joker David Hirshey was informed that Sarah Silverman had chosen him over two of his colleagues to be the editor of her as-yet-untitled book of essays.

Settling on a home for Ms. Silverman’s book has been a long and drawn-out process that began in mid-November, when an intense auction overseen by Trident Media Group CEO...

The Office of Judith Regan on Legal Fees Lawsuit: 'Marc Dreier Will Lose' Just Like News Corp

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:28:48 -0500

At the end of the day yesterday Media Mob posted an item about the $10.75 million settlement that News Corp. paid its former employee, ex-HarperCollins editor Judith Regan, to avoid going to court over the defamation and wrongful termination suit she'd filed against them back in November. The staggering figure, previously undisclosed, had popped up in newly submitted court filings from Ms. Regan's former lawyers at Dreier LLP, the now-troubled Manhattan firm that alleged...

Carrie Kania Makes Harper Perennial Clubhouse for Losers

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:33:54 -0500

Most of the people who came to Camilla Morton’s book party at the Diane von Furstenberg showroom last Thursday night appeared to be models or DJs or photographers. Giselle Bündchen arrived in skintight leather pants. A man with a waxed handlebar mustache wandered about wearing glasses. One young lady had on an American Apparel leotard and platform heels that resembled nothing so much as toaster ovens.

Thirty-seven-year-old publisher Carrie Kania, who recently put...

Three HarperCollins Imprints Face Off For $2.5 Million Sarah Silverman Book

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:49:45 -0500

The auction for comedian Sarah Silverman's book has ended, with HarperCollins emerging victorious after submitting a house bid in the neighborhood of $2.5 million dollars. Editors at three of HarperCollins' imprints—David Hirshey at Harper, Gillian Blake at Collins, and Laurie Chittenden at William Morrow—are interested in the book, which means Ms. Silverman and her agent, Trident Media Group CEO Daniel Strone, have some deciding to do.

HarperCollins' number two Michael Morrison, who will...

A Year Later, Wall Street Journal Finalizes Partnership With Its Corporate Cousin HarperCollins

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:13:34 -0500

More than a year after Collins publisher Steve Ross and his boss at HarperCollins met with representatives from The Wall Street Journal to discuss the possibility of a partnership, the ink is finally dry. The first book The Journal will publish through Collins, The Wall Street Journal Guide to the End of Wall Street As We Know It: What You Need to Know About the Greatest Financial Crisis of Our Time—And How to Survive...

His Words Are Bond's! Roger Moore Celebrates Collins at the Modern as Publishing Burns

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:02:16 -0500

"You're lucky I don't have a chalkboard," said Steve Ross, receiving nervous laughter from the well-dressed crowd of authors and editors at a celebration Wednesday evening of the first full list published by the Collins Publishing Group, the recently reorganized division of HarperCollins of which Mr. Ross is the president and publisher.

Mr. Ross, who is known to be garrulous when it comes to talking about his work, started the story...

Riding High, Ecco Lures Paris Review Editor Matt Weiland Back Into the Book Business

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:19:28 -0400

Tomorrow will be Matt Weiland's last day as an editor at The Paris Review. On November 10th he'll report for duty at the Ecco Press, the distinguished boutique house at HarperCollins that has been enjoying a massive year thanks to the breakout success of David Wroblewski's dog novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Mr. Weiland said the job came about as a result of the book State by State, an anthology of essays he...

Stuff Publishers Like: Ready-Made Ideas That Package Themselves

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:12:33 -0400

The Stuff White People Like book that Random House published in July is still on The New York Times best seller list. Granted, it's at number 34, just one spot away from falling off (keep hanging on, The World Without Us), but still—it was less than a year ago that this thing was just a blog that some internet people thought was funny. Then in late March, Random House paid its author, Christian Lander,...

Bob Miller's HarperStudio To Publish Mark Twain, Eisner, 50 Cent, New Yorker Cartoon Editor Bob Mankoff

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:50:18 -0400

Bob Miller has unveiled the 23 titles that will make up his first list at HarperStudio, the imprint he started last spring at HarperCollins with the goal of finding a model for book publishing that doesn't rely on paying authors outsize advances or allowing retailers to return unsold stock. Mr. Miller's announcement, which he made this morning on HarperStudio's new blog, brings to an end several months of industry-wide speculation about just what kinds...

Henry Holt Names New EIC; Marjorie Braman Comes from HarperCollins

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:30:22 -0400

Henry Holt and Company has a new editor-in-chief. According to Publishers Lunch, Marjorie Braman, formerly an executive editor at HarperCollins, will begin September 8th. Earlier this month, The Observer's Leon Neyfakh wondered "Who's Editing Holt?" Soon enough, it will be Ms. Braman.

PL quotes Holt President Dan Farley as saying:

She is one of the leading editors in the industry and her excellent track record at Harper Collins is notable for her publishing of...

Jane Friedman Gets 'Perklempt' At Hall-of-Mirrors 'Transitioning' Party

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:50:57 -0400

It was a small party on Steve Rubin's roof last night, not a big party. Just two "civilians" there, as Jane Friedman, the guest of honor, put it—everyone else was either a publishing executive, an editor, a high-powered literary agent, or a member of her family.

Bob Miller, head of the Harper Studio imprint at the publishing house Ms. Friedman ran until a few months ago, said that if you bombed the terrace,...

Pretty Good, For a Book Publisher! Harper Collins Stars Frey, Wall, Oz Earn Rupert Murdoch ... Millions!

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:11:04 -0400

News Corp.'s fourth quarter earnings report is in, and it looks like HarperCollins made Rupert Murdoch about as much money this year ($160 million) as it did in 2007. His TV, cable, and film divisions, meanwhile, made him about $1.3 billion each!

Sorry, sorry, just some perspective. Back to HarperCollins: earnings for this quarter ($29 million) were down slightly compared to Q3, but up by a full third compared to Q4 last year. According...

Embargo on Suskind's Book Damn Near Holds; Politico Gets the Scoop on Alleged Bush Administration Forgery [Update]

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:49:50 -0400

Politico was first to the line in the race for Ron Suskind's embargoed new book, reporting last night at 11:23 PM that according to Mr. Suskind's reporting, the White House had ordered the CIA to forge a "back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein" in order to strengthen the link between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks. The book, entitled Way of the World, had been under lock and key...

Bill Russell Book on Red Auerbach Sold to Collins; Rumor Has It For Over $1 Million

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:07:12 -0400

Collins, a division of HarperCollins, agreed to pay legendary Celtics center Bill Russell, 74, over $1 million dollars to write a book about his old coach, the late Red Auerbach. Hard to know, as always, whether that figure is just someone's guess or the real thing. We heard it from two sources, but Collins publisher Bruce Nichols did not immediately return an e-mail asking whether it was high or low.

Auerbach, who died...

Another Theory Floated About Jane Friedman's Strange Exit From HarperCollins

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:27:53 -0400

New York takes a swing at the Jane Friedman mystery at the top of this week's Intelligencer, reporting a possibly controversial decision that Ms. Friedman made in April at the London Book Fair when she moved a book party for Egyptian novelist Alaa Al Aswany out of the HarperCollins booth because she found him too anti-Israel.

That "because" is disputed by a source close to Ms. Friedman, who tells New York that the...

HarperCollins Pays Sarah Marshall Star Russell Brand $3 Million For Book of Rants

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:20:16 -0400

Russell Brand, the British comedian most recently seen playing a sexy rock star in the Judd Apatow-produced comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, has inked a $3 million dollar book deal with HarperCollins Worldwide, according to a source involved in the negotiations. That jaw-dropping sum got the house world English rights, which means they’ll be able to publish the book—described to Media Mob as a collection of comedic “rants”—through any of their international units and sell...

Why Jane Jumped: Forensics on the End Of Friedman at HC

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:32:44 -0400

At 11 a.m. last Wednesday morning, Jane Friedman presided over a meeting with her publishers and some marketing people on the 15th floor of the HarperCollins building in midtown. The meeting was about digital outreach, and offered an occasion to discuss ideas for how the News Corp.-owned publishing house could use computers to sell more books. This meeting, a regular thing, was held once every two or three weeks as part of an initiative...

Bob Miller Christens His New Imprint at HarperCollins; Hires From Morrow and Random House

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:20:36 -0400

A few months have passed since Bob Miller left his longtime post atop Hyperion to start an experimental new imprint at HarperCollins designed to avoid big advances and bookstore returns—two of the most crippling structural issues facing contemporary publishing. So far, Mr. Miller has been operating quietly by himself, using his time to meet with literary agents and retailers, figuring out exactly how to realize his plan, and interviewing potential hires.

Today, Mr. Miller...

Jane Friedman, Day 2

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:59:57 -0400

The Times and the Wall Street Journal have day two stories on Jane Friedman’s abrupt exit from HarperCollins; both have interviews with Brian Murray, the new CEO, who says News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, who has owned the publishing house for about 20 years, first summoned him about a promotion on Monday. An unnamed Times source says Ms. Friedman didn’t discuss vacating her post with Mr. Murdoch until two days later,...

Friedman Says Goodbye to Staff at HarperCollins Marketing Meeting

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:12:56 -0400

HarperCollins staff are reeling today in the wake of last night's stunning announcement that their CEO of ten years, Jane Friedman, has been replaced by her 41-year-old deputy, Brian Murray. At the weekly marketing meeting held this morning in the central conference room on the second floor of the HarperCollins building, Ms. Friedman briefly addressed staff from all over publicity, marketing, sales and editorial, telling them that today would be her last day.

According...

Why Is Jane Friedman Suddenly Not the CEO of HarperCollins?

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:29:10 -0400

That's the big question today in the publishing world, which was collectively stunned last night when it was reported that Jane Friedman had resigned as the CEO of HarperCollins after 10 years on the job and handed the reins of the company over to her 41-year-old deputy.

Did Ms. Friedman, who is 61, see Peter Olson's recent resignation from Random House and subsequent appointment to the faculty of the Harvard Business School and think,...

It's Official: Jane Friedman Out at HarperCollins, Her Deputy Up 'Effective Immediately'

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:51:49 -0400

It's official: Jane Friedman has resigned as CEO of HarperCollins, and her number two, 41-year-old Brian Murray, is taking over "effective immediately."

The news came as a shock to Ms. Friedman's colleagues tonight, though a poor first quarter performance reported in November did inspire some rumblings among publishing insiders that a change in leadership was conceivable. As we noted earlier, at least two of the publishing division heads at HarperCollins were caught by...

Frey Number 9 on Times Bestseller List; First Week Sales at Around 14,000

Wed, 21 May 2008 17:38:35 -0400

The numbers are in: James Frey's Bright Shiny Morning, published by the flagship imprint of HarperCollins on May 13, sold 14,343 copies in its first week, putting it at No. 9 on the New York Times best-seller list. (It should be noted BookScan only tracks 70 percent of total sales.)

We hear HarperCollins is pleased.
...

Bob Miller's Studio 'Experiment' Already Tried and Tested - On Small-Press Scale

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:28:06 -0400

The book world jumped a little in its seat last week when HarperCollins C.E.O. Jane Friedman announced that she’d hired Hyperion president Bob Miller to form an “innovative and creative” new publishing unit. It was shocking enough that Ms. Friedman had managed to hire Mr. Miller away from Hyperion after 17 years to run the new shop. But the business model the two of them had in mind? To split profits...

Collins President Steve Ross Is at the Movies Right Now With His Whole Staff

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:42:16 -0400

Steve Ross, president and publisher of the Collins division at HarperCollins, is at the Ziegfeld right now, a couple of blocks from the company tower, seeing the Rolling Stones concert film Shine a Light with his entire staff. Mr. Ross said in an e-mail that it was a morale-boosting event—a Friday tradition, in fact, that he started when he was president of Crown.

Unfortunately, he was out the door for the 4 p.m. showing...

Jane Friedman and Bob Miller Launch Utopian Publishing Experiment at HarperCollins

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:16:00 -0400

The publishing world was stunned yesterday by two major resignations, as Rob Weisbach, founding president of Weinstein Books, and Bob Miller, founding president of Hyperion, both announced that they were vacating their positions to pursue other opportunities.

No word yet on what Mr. Weisbach's next move will be—he hasn't returned our calls, though a Weinstein spokesman told us he does have a job in publishing lined up—but Mr. Miller is heading...

Hyperion Loses President to HarperCollins, Publisher Ellen Archer Promoted to Top Spot

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:26:55 -0400

Robert Miller, the founding president of Disney's publishing operation Hyperion, has stepped down to take a job at HarperCollins. Hyperion's publisher Ellen Archer, who has been with the company for nine years, has been promoted to president effective immediately. Ms. Archer will report to Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of the Disney-ABC Television Group.

Hyperion loses its president just three months after losing its editor-in-chief Will Schwalbe, when he resigned to...

Editor of Dangerous Book For Boys Returns to HarperCollins After a Brief Stint at Workman

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:01:14 -0400

Matthew Benjamin, the editor best known for acquiring surprise blockbusters The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls, is coming back to the Collins division of HarperCollins after a seven month-long stint at the indie house Workman Publishing. He will serve as a senior editor in the wellness/lifestyle unit of the division, which has been on an aggressive hiring spree as of late, where he will report to Mary Ellen O'Neill....

Stop Us If You've Heard This One: Collins Hires Another Executive Editor

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:52:43 -0400

The Collins division of HarperCollins had gone almost two weeks without announcing a new hire. That ended this morning when they sent out a press release about Caroline Sutton, whom they've recruited from Ballantine and installed as executive editor within their health/wellness operation.

Ms. Sutton is the fourth executive editor Collins has hired since January. (The last one was the conservative Adam Bellow.) HarperCollins is growing the Collins division really, really aggressively, and allowing...

Adam Bellow, Son of Saul and 'Right-Wing Controversialist,' Joins Collins as Executive Editor

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:17:42 -0400

Adam Bellow, the conservative editor and author known for publishing books like The Bell Curve, David Brock's The Real Anita Hill, and Dinesh D'Souza's Illiberal Education, has left Doubleday for a senior position at Collins, the once quite invisible reference imprint of HarperCollins that has, in recent months, been taking aggressive steps towards recasting itself as a major player in non-fiction narrative.

The transformation began when HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman brought in Steve Ross from...

Richard Ford Leaves Knopf After More Than 15 Years, Signs Three-Book Deal With Ecco

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:16:12 -0500

Richard Ford, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the Frank Bascombe Trilogy, has left Knopf, his home of 17 years, and signed on to write three books for Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins. The acquiring editor at Ecco was the publisher, Dan Halpern; Binky Urban of ICM, Mr. Ford's longtime literary agent, brokered the deal.

Two of the books will be novels and the third will be a collection of short...

Roger Director Adding Two Extra Chapters to Forthcoming Paperback Edition of Giants Book

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:03:52 -0500

HarperCollins will rush the paperback edition of Roger Director's I Dream in Blue, an anguished love letter to the New York Giants from the perspective of a frustrated lifelong fan, to stores at the end of this month, according to Harper Perennial publisher Carrie Kania.

Ms. Kania said Mr. Director will add two chapters to the book, which came out in hardcover last September, to reflect the fact that the Giants actually won...

Ex-Ballantine Editor-in-Chief Nancy Miller Joins Collins as Executive Editor

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:15:33 -0500

Former Ballantine editor-in-chief Nancy Miller has been made an executive editor and vice president at Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins, according to a memo sent to staff this afternoon.

Ms. Miller is only the latest new hire at Collins, which is growing and undergoing a makeover at the hands of its relatively new publisher and president, Bruce Nichols and Steve Ross. Mr. Nichols and Mr. Ross were...

Knopf, FSG Lead National Book Critics Circle Award Nominees; Two Nods For Oates

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 07:10:10 -0500

The National Book Critics Circle, an organization made up of about 700 active book critics, announced on Saturday the finalist pool for their end-of-year awards, which will be held in March.

The NBCC honors books in six categories: Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Autobiography, Biography, Criticism, and Poetry.

In industry terms, Knopf leads the pack with four nominations (including three in the biography category), followed by FSG at three. The Poetry category did not include a single book...

HarperCollins Will Rush Bhutto Book To Stores Feb. 12

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:19:23 -0500

HarperCollins has pushed up the publication date for Benazir Bhutto's book Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West by two months, in the wake of the former Pakistani prime minister's assassination on Dec. 27, reports The New York Times.

According to Publisher's Weekly, which first reported HarperCollins' intention to move the publication date, Bhutto had finished the manuscript for the book a week before she was killed.

According to an announcement from HarperCollins, Reconciliation will...

Ecco To Publish Tom Robbins' New Novel 'B' Is for Beer This Fall

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:02:01 -0500

Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, will publish a new novel this fall by Tom Robbins called B is For Beer.

According to HarperCollins executive editor David Hirshey, who is editing the book, it is about 100 pages long, and takes the form of a "hallucinogenic hymn to beer, children, and the cosmic mysteries that sustain us all."

Mr. Robbins, author of Even Cowgirls Get the...

Collins To Publish Memoir by Pioneering Parrot Psychologist Irene Pepperberg

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:39:38 -0500

Collins, the once-stale imprint of HarperCollins currently in the process of reinventing itself as a destination for major narrative non-fiction, has signed up Brandeis psychologist Irene Pepperberg to write a memoir about taking care of and studying Alex, the "world's most famous parrot."

Alex the parrot died in September after 30 years in Ms. Pepperberg's care. Ms. Pepperberg studied the bird extensively and believed it had the intelligence of a 5-year-old human being. Her...

Two New Hires at Collins as Makeover Campaign Continues

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:51:05 -0500

Collins, a division of HarperCollins once known mostly for publishing reference books and how-to guides, announced two new editorial hires today: Bill Strachan and Serena Jones, both of whom specialize in narrative nonfiction.

Mr. Strachan was most recently a senior-level editor at the Avalon Publishing Group, a job he lost when Avalon was folded into the Perseus Books Group this past spring. Before that, he was at Hyperion, where he edited, among...