Saturday, April 26, 2008

Angel to Lead (and Expand) Faber in US

As was being murmured in the halls at the London Book Fair, Fourth Estate editorial director Mitzi Angel will relocate to New York to become publisher of Faber, Inc. in the US as part of an initiative to expand that imprint "with its own singular identity" as well as build a program of joint world English acquisitions with Faber and Faber the UK. (Originally established as the US branch of the British Faber and Faber, a majority interest in the operation was sold to Farrar, Straus in 1998.)

But FSG will continue to partner with their corporate British colleagues at Macmillan and Picador UK as well. FSG president Jonathan Galassi says "deals will be driven by the specific author-publisher fits.

Mitzi's list will reflect both Faber UK's orientation and her own interests, ditto with FSG-Macmillan. Yes there is overlap but we think this will shake down eventually without too much difficulty. We're a small shop where everyone is going to be consulting closely."Angel will start in June, initially working out of Faber and Faber's London offices until relocating later in the summer. Overall title output for Faber, Inc. is expected to "grow over time by about 50 percent" to approximately 30 to 35 books a year, Galassi tells us (Angel will report to him).

Galassi says in the announcement: "The aim is to take the existing Faber, Inc., and expand and deepen it, working closely with our Faber colleagues in London to build the brand in a new way here. Under Mitzi's leadership, Faber, Inc., will be an innovative American imprint with a fresh approach to both fiction and nonfiction publishing. I'm excited that, at a time when some other publishers seem to be pulling back, the long-standing special relationship between Faber and FSG will enter a creative new phase under this talented publisher's guidance."
Source - Publishers Lunch.

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