Harvill Secker's Surprising Centenary Liiz Thomson Opiiniion - Publliishiing Wednesday, 30Th September 2009
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Harvill Secker's surprising centenary Liiz Thomson Opiiniion - Publliishiing Wednesday, 30th September 2009 From January to December 2010, 'Random House imprint Harvill Secker will be celebrating a centenary of publishing. Harvill Secker has published some of the most iconic and inspiring literary works of the last 100 years, bringing international writing from exceptional writers to the attention of British book buyers.' The quality of the Harvill Secker list is indeed impressive - but Harvill Secker is not 100 years old. In 2010 it will be six. Nor, strictly speaking, is Secker & Warburg, which was born in 1936 as a result of the takeover by Frederic Warburg of Martin Secker, which had gone bust. But those two companies are now forever linked by an ampersand. Harvill Press was founded in 1946, by Manya Harari and Marjorie Villiers, BBC broadcasters who sought to build cultural bridges with Europe after the war. It was for many years part of Collins/HarperCollins, then independent, and was acquired by Random House in 2002 and merged with Secker in 2004, a move that was not without controversy. Be that as it may, next year's events will include a day celebrating international writers at Foyles and a presence at all the major literary festivals. Goodie bags, giveaways, special editions and competitions will run alongside a high-profile media campaign. Harvill Secker's enviable list of writers, including Man Booker winners and Nobel Laureates, is the combined fruit of the rich history of two distinct, and distinguished houses. From Secker comes Thomas Mann, George Orwell, J M Coetzee, Louis de Berni res, G nter Grass and Joseph O'Connor. From Harvill's treasure chest, over which Christopher MacLehose presided for two decades, come Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Bulgakov, Henning Mankell, Jos Saramago, Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa and Haruki Murakami. Between them, the lists' literary heritage is, indeed, 'a roll-call of some of the world's most important and ground-breaking writers'. Let's celebrate, for a change, the golden threads in our publishing heritage, not merely the money-making gilt that tarnishes overnight. But let's also honour our history and write it accurately, for it is important. The establishment of Secker, Warburg, and Secker & Warburg, as well as Harvill Press, and all the other houses (Gollancz, Cape, Bodley Head, Weidenfeld, Hamish Hamilton, Michael Joseph et al) that were, until recent memory, independent and distinct, represent significant moments in our cultural history. The men who founded them had vision and a social conscience. We will never see their like again. A full promotion schedule for Harvill Secker will be announced in January. Source article: https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article- detail/harvill-seckers-surprising-centenary www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd..