Vintage Celebrates 50th Anniversary Of Catch-22

Press Release

VINTAGE TO PUBLISH NEW EDITIONS OF CATCH-22 AND A MEMOIR BY JOSEPH HELLER'S DAUGHTER

 
'Catch-22 is the only war novel I've ever read that makes any sense' HARPER LEE

Left - 1st edition cover

Vintage Classics, an imprint of Vintage Publishing, part of The Random House Group, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Joseph Heller's explosive and best-selling novel Catch-22 throughout 2011 by publishing three new editions of the novel – a new paperback and eBook in time for summer reading on 23 June and a special edition hardback on 6 October. This is the first time that the novel has been available in digital format and the eBook will be available to readers across the UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada) from everywhere eBooks are sold.

Vintage Classics will launch an unprecedented six month-long campaign for the anniversary in October, including 16-sheet London Underground adverts over the summer and BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime in October, as well as an exciting digital marketing campaign and a host of events.

Vintage will also publish a memoir by Heller's daughter, Erica Heller, on 6 October in paperback and eBook format. Yossarian Slept Here is a daughter's darkly funny, poignant memoir about growing up with her famous father – from her parents' passionate and tumultuous marriage, to her father's celebrity friends and their eccentric family and neighbours (Mel Brooks was a close confidante and Sidney Poitier shared the elevator).

Erica Heller says, 'Dad was a brilliant, quirky, hilarious person and growing up with him was tricky, complicated but never boring. He had a special fondness for the UK, so being published by Vintage is particularly meaningful to me. Dad studied on a Fulbright at Oxford and was then an honorary fellow of St. Catherine's College, which he visited periodically, to meet with students writing fiction. Call me crazy but I have a feeling that Brits will understand what I've written about.'

Victoria Murray-Browne, Editor at Vintage, says of acquiring Yossarian Slept Here, 'This is a brilliant memoir: a funny, moving and fascinating portrayal of life with a remarkable man. We're delighted to be publishing it this autumn alongside our anniversary edition of Catch-22.'
In November, Vintage Classics will also reissue Something Happened and a Print on Demand edition of Good as Gold to celebrate Heller's legacy.