Some shocking & sad news from the lit & publishing world today...

Book Brunch (log in required for relevant page) reported that "Sam Leith, Literary Editor of the Daily Telegraph, has been made redundant" and that "...it is thought that literary editor Michael Prodger is likely also to lose his job".  Said Nicholas Clee at Book Brunch, "Both editors will be missed in the industry, where they are widely liked and respected. Their departures are the first in the UK to mirror an alarming trend in the US, where numerous newspapers have cut back on their books coverage."

You have to ask why...

[Update 5/12/08: Book Brunch have now reported that the earlier report on Michael Prodger was incorrect and that he remains in charge of the Sunday Telegraph book pages.]
 

And from booktrade.info comes news that Becky Saletan will leave US publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on Dec 10.  She has resigned from the company's adult trade division.  Booktrade points to an article in the New York Times, where it is noted that only last week HMH "temporarily stopped acquiring new books as its parent company, Education Media and Publishing Group, an Irish private equity concern, said it was not allocating as much capital to the consumer book business."

Also from Book Brunch (again log in required), Random House is undergoing a restructure which seeks to "maximise potential in these challenging economic times and beyond".  This one has also seen heads at the top leave.

Times are tight, very tight.

Comments

[profmike]

I have to apologise for not making it to Borders this evening. I hope it went well and that you are going to organise more events, which I hope I'll be able to get to next time. Please let me know of any future events.

Cheers

Mike

[Peter]

Congratulations to your country on following mine into dumbing down plus the inevitable consequence of concentrating too much book-publishing power in too few hands.

I wonder if British newspapers will succeed as brilliantly as American papers have at driving away literate readers.
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