Listening to and Learning from the Publishing Greats—”A Constant Education”

June 17 update: The organization that sponsored the event below, NY Book Forum, has posted a video of the May 24th program on youtube, linked to here.
—-

Listening to tales of the career experiences of successful professionals in publishing is always inspiring, and I felt that in spades about last night’s event put on by the New York Book Forum, held in Hachette’s sleek offices in Midtown Manhattan. The event was a shared conversation between two major figures in the book business, Victoria Wilson, an editor at Knopf for five decades, and Jane Friedman, publishing and marketing maestra who was with Knopf for twenty-nine years, then CEO of HarperCollins, and was more recently the founder of Open Road Media. Between them, they embody a combined century of publishing experience.

The evening got off to a convivial start with an unexpectedly lengthy cocktail hour that nearly stretched to an hour. I had taken a chair, but took part and made the rounds, too. Post-pandemic, I think people are so pleased to be in social settings that no one was in a hurry to start the program, even though we were also all eager for it to begin.

Vicky Wilson (l.) and Jane Friedman

Once everyone was settled, Vicky Wilson began by talking about her father, who was a writer, and she said among her family’s circle of acquaintances were family names like Boni and Liveright who operated the Boni & Liveright company, a publisher of some distinction. She was hired at Knopf in 1972 or ’73, in the editorial department, soon became a full-fledged editor, and never went elsewhere. At one point, she sought permission from her boss, Bob Gottlieb, to attend a writer’s conference out west in Squaw Valley, Idaho. Gottlieb agreed, though he told her he doubted she’d find any writers there to publish. In fact, that’s where she met Anne Rice, whose debut novel, Interview With A Vampire, she would then edit and publish. Among other things, the book became a bestseller in hardcover, and the paperback rights were sold in an auction among mass-market publishers for more money than any novel to that point. Wilson recounted sitting on a couch in Gottlieb’s office as the paperback bids ascended, astonished at all that was happening. Among Wilson’s authors is one we have in common, humanitarian and photojournalist Ruth Gruber  (1911-2016). Wilson described her career as “a constant education” in life and in business. Life, because as an editor you’re always encountering some new thing you were not apt to have known about before, and business, because you need to have at least a modicum of business sense, even though you may be more passionately interested in content and writing than the nuts & bolts of the operation.

Jane Friedman related how she came to Random House for an interview with the personnel director where, without blushing, she stated that she wanted to be in charge of something at the company.  She started working with the longtime head of Publicity, Bill Loverd, and not too long after that became head of what was then known as the Promotion department. In that role, she inaugurated—with Julia Child as the author—the first city-to-city author tour to promote a new book. The tour for Mastering the Art of French Cooking visited many major cities, supported by local morning show TV spots and well-attended signings in the book departments of major department stores, where the inimitable Julia would do a cooking demonstration. Friedman later started Random House Audio, the first audio division at a major book publisher.

Their personal monologues very quickly evolved into a stimulating back & forth, with some ribbing and joking about each other’s exploits, achievements, and work styles. It made for a delightful conversation. And everyone who came to see and hear them had a chance to engage and ask questions. I was especially pleased that many Knopf veterans were on hand, including Kathy Hourigan, Martha Kaplan, Andy Hughes, Vicky Wilson’s assistant Melinda, and Nicholas Latimer, who is Knopf’s head of publicity.

During the extended cocktail hour that kicked off the event, I was excited to learn from Latimer that Knopf is bringing out a memoir by Rose Styron, pub date June 13. Nodding toward the front of the conference room, he added that in fact Jane introduced Rose Styron to Vicky, who acquired the rights and edited the manuscript. I am eager to read it, as she has been involved throughout her life with many important humanitarian causes and human rights issues, advocating for social justice with her husband the late novelist William Styron (1925-2006). I see now that the new book is titled Beyond the Harbor: Adventurous Tales of the Heart. Almost twenty-five years ago, I had a meaningful professional encounter with her husband, and later had occasion to meet Rose, too.

It all began when I read in a biography of William Styron that the first piece of nonfiction he ever published was a critique of capitol punishment in Esquire magazine. I was working as an editor at Times Books/Random House, where I had just acquired a powerful nonfiction book about an innocent man on Death Row in Virginia. With that in mind I contacted him through his editor at Random House, and asked if he would write an Introduction to the book. It was titled Dead Run: The Shocking Story of Dennis Stockton and Life on Death Row. As a son of Virginia himself, it roused him to write a powerful essay that opened the book. After his death, I attended the public memorial held for him at a Manhattan cathedral. Afterward, I introduced myself to Rose Styron, expressed my condolences, and explained my connection to her husband, whereupon she embraced me spontaneously and said, “Oh, Bill loved that Death Row book!” I write more about Dead Run and William Styron in an essay that ran in the BN Review some years ago.

For readers of this blog who may be interested, Bob Gottlieb, head of Knopf for many of the years that Wilson and Friedman, is the author of a delightful memoir chronicling his years in publishing, a Avid Reader. Last fall, before Lizzie Gottlieb’s documentary Turn Every Page was released, about her father and Robert Caro, I wrote an appreciative essay about the memoir, published here on The Great Gray Bridge, “Avidly Reading Bob Gottlieb’s Avid Reader.”

I’ll watch for other events put on by New York Book Forum, whose president, Peggy Samedi, spoke at the beginning of the program. She said they want to bring back events like this for publishing people to take part in, now that we’ve finally all emerged from Covid isolation. I say, three cheers for that!

Book Cover for “Public/Private: My Life with Joe Papp at the Public Theater”

Thrilled to see that Applause Theater and Cinema Books now has the cover and the book catalog page up for Public/Private: My Life with Joe Papp at the Public Theater live on their website. The cover—and a full listing with price, pub date, and ordering info—is also now posted on major book retailing websites—Bookshop.org, BN.com, and Amazon—with many more booksellers to come. Gail Merrifield Papp’s memoir, with many photographs, will be published October 17, 2023.

I first wrote about the project when we sold it to Applause last summer and it was announced in Publishers Weekly. To offer readers of this blog a sense of the book, I’ll quote here from the pitch letter we sent to publishers.

 

Gail Papp has written an engrossing and highly entertaining book that blends an affecting memoir of her life alongside the founder of the Public Theater Joe Papp with a behind-the-scenes portrait of the influential theater’s dazzling history. She opens with the Public Theater’s beginnings more than a half-century ago in a narrative that spans the decades-long association the couple enjoyed until Joe’s death in 1991. During that span, the Public mounted hundreds of productions, from Shakespeare in the Park to such plays as for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf and Sticks and Bones, to the musicals Hair and A Chorus Line—with many actors whose careers were launched at the Public, including James Earl Jones, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Colleen Dewhurst, Martin Sheen, Gloria Foster, George C. Scott, Diane Venora, Morgan Freeman, and dozens of others.*

In a witty conversational style, the author paints a comprehensive portrait of the creative process of one of America’s most acclaimed theater artists, highlighting the innovative ways the Public operated, driven by Joe’s ambition to create a year-round producing home focused on original plays and musicals from new voices, while employing non-traditional casting which made it a home for scores of the most creative people in American pop culture. In Public/Private she traces the founding of the Shakespeare Festival, when its role was for a time limited to small venues around New York City, later moving into Central Park where its Shakespeare renditions became an indelible feature of summer in the city, and the Public’s evolution toward cultural renown and national significance, a beacon for social change.

New aspects of Joe Papp’s many battles with the establishment are also highlighted, from tilts with Robert Moses to theater critics to conservative poohbahs in the US Congress. The scourge of AIDs is also documented, in the form of people close to Joe and Gail, Larry Kramer’s play The Normal Heart, and in the toll it exacted on Joe’s son, Tony.

Her touching remembrances lend the narrative a keen, emotional edge, which will captivate readers and bring a human side to the legendary figure whose theater continues to thrive today, operating at both the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, in the theaters on Astor Place and at Joe’s Pub, a live music venue dedicated in his honor.

At a time when America remains divided over issues of race, identity, and sexual orientation, Public/Private reminds us that theater is a powerful force for social change and community-building, a place for people to gather.

*A marvel of the book will be its impressive appendices of more than thirty pages appearing under the headings: Featured Actors, Choreographers, Composers, Directors, and Playwrights.