Publishing saw upheaval in 2020, but 'books are resilient'
(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)NEW YORK – Book publishing in 2020 was a story of how much an industry can change and how much it can, or wants to, remain the same. To its benefit and to its dismay, publishing was drawn into the events of the moment. Penguin Random House, among other initiatives, asked all employees to read Ibram X. Kendi’s “How To Be an Anti-Racist.” Kendi later presided over a company town hall. Macmillan CEO Don Weisberg, who cited a wide range of diversity programs at the publishing house that began before “American Dirt,” said he “understands the skepticism." The CEO of Penguin Random House U.S., Madeline McIntosh, noted how well book publishing could meet the public's needs during the pandemic and other events of 2020.
Virus-hit Paris bookshop Shakespeare & Co appeals for help
A man walks by the closed English and American literature Shakespeare and Co. bookstore in Paris, France, Thursday, Nov. 05, 2020. Since sending the email appeal, Whitman says she has been “overwhelmed” by the offers of help Shakespeare and Company has received. Founded by Sylvia Beach in 1919, Shakespeare & Company became a creative hub for expatriate writers including Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Sylvia Whitman looked to the past for a solution to her new problem. A lot of expats had to leave Paris, as it was too expensive, so she and her friends set up a Friends of Shakespeare and Company,” Whitman said.