Kids Can moves to new location

The Toronto-based Kids Can Press has moved from its former Birch Avenue location. The new address is:

Kids Can Press
Corus Quay
25 Dockside Drive
Toronto, ON
M5A 0B5

Davidar tells his side of the story

Former Penguin Canada president David Davidar has hit back at claims by ex-employee Lisa Rundle that he had sexually harassed her over a three-year period. Via his lawyer, Peter Downard, Davidar released a lengthy statement recounting the nature of his relationship with Rundle, insisting that it was a consensual one:

David Davidar has not sexually harassed anyone. He has not assaulted anyone. David Davidar had a consensual, flirtatious relationship that grew out of a close friendship with a colleague. He deeply regrets the hurt this has caused his wife.

Commencing in late 2005, Mr. Davidar and Ms. Rundle had offices next to each other at Penguin. They became friends.  At work, Mr. Davidar and Ms. Rundle spent significant time in each other’s offices. At Ms. Rundle’s invitation, Mr. Davidar played tennis with her at her tennis club. They went to a tennis tournament together. They attended the theatre together. They had lunches in restaurants together.

[...]

Ms. Rundle and Mr. Davidar kissed on two occasions. The first was in Ms. Rundle’s room at the October 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair referred to in Ms. Rundle’s claim. However, contrary to Ms. Rundle’s claim, Mr. Davidar did not bully his way into her room, nor did he force himself upon her. Ms. Rundle did not object when they kissed. After the kiss, Ms. Rundle said she wanted to take a nap, as she was feeling jet-lagged. She asked Mr. Davidar to wake her up in an hour.

Two days later, Mr. Davidar and Ms. Rundle went to dinner at a restaurant. After dinner, Mr. Davidar kissed Ms. Rundle again, this time in his hotel room. Ms. Rundle then left to spend the evening with a friend. The next morning, Mr. Davidar and Ms. Rundle returned to Toronto. Upon arriving, Ms. Rundle asked Mr. Davidar for a ride to her home, which he provided.

Ms. Rundle subsequently told Mr. Davidar that she had enjoyed their kisses in Frankfurt, whether or not they were ever repeated. She did nothing to convey to Mr. Davidar that his attention was unwanted.

The statement goes on to claim that Samantha Francis, another employee who filed an earlier complaint of sexual harassment against Davidar, told him that the human resources department had simply misunderstood an enquiry she had made about one of his comments, and that she wished to withdraw the enquiry against him.

Chris Jackson named manager of iBookstore Canada

Apple Canada has confirmed that Chris Jackson has been hired as manager of iBookstore Canada. Previously, Jackson was director of digital media and merchandising for the Toronto-based Epitome Pictures (which produced the original Degrassi High television series) and a director of business development for both Madison Press Books in Toronto and St. Remy Media in Montreal.

Apple spokesperson Jason Roth wouldn’t go into detail about Jackson’s position, but said, “He will manage relationships between Canadian publishers and iBookstore.” According to Jackson himself, who began the new position today, he will be in charge of getting the Canadian store up and running.

“I’m thrilled,” Jackson told Q&Q. “It’s an incredible chance to be back in the Canadian publishing industry during this evolution.”

Portrait of David Davidar as a young man

While researching the ongoing David Davidar sexual harassment scandal, Q&Q came across an archival newspaper column written by one of his former mentors, the late Indian poet and columnist Dom Moraes. The piece, written in 2002, is a reminiscence of Davidar’s early days working as an associate editor for a Mumbai literary magazine. We quote it here because it provides a not-irrelevant, pre-scandal glimpse into Davidar’s character:

[David] was a tall, coltish, bespectacled young man, curiously lovable. While Dhiren [another editor at the magazine] had abstained from most of the pleasures of the world, David was — at least then — very susceptible to them. He drank a lot and liked to fall in love. He was paradoxically a devout Christian. At that time he lived in the YMCA in Colaba, not far from me. He would often drop in for Sunday lunch. I discovered that he usually stopped at church before this, to attend the morning service.

[...]

After this David became an associate editor of Gentleman, together with Harish Mehta. The two young men invented a monthly feature. They took turns every month to interview a beautiful film starlet or model over an expensive, often candlelit dinner, paid for by the office. David’s first such dinner, with a then famous model, caused him to tell me enthusiastically that he loved her. I was not unused to these confessions. I suggested that he should declare his emotions to her, not me, and should start by asking her to a meal that he paid for himself.

Later David came to tell me the lady had accepted his invitation to dinner. He was to pick her up the following evening. I advised him to be particularly careful about the impression he made on her father, and to take her flowers. He said my ideas in these matters were unoriginal. It was Easter. In the patisserie of a hotel, he had seen a life-size Easter bunny made of chocolate. It cost a lot and with a lavish dinner would exhaust his month’s salary, but it was worth it. As to her father, he expected to have a man-to-man talk with him over a drink.

This rendezvous was not a success. Through nerves, he arrived far too early, carrying his gigantic gift with difficulty. The reaction of the family had been one of amusement rather than awe. While the girl got ready, the father rather grumpily offered David a drink from his last bottle of Scotch. In those days a bottle of Scotch was much prized by its owner. But the girl took time to dress, David’s nervousness increased and by the time she appeared the bottle was empty. The father was by then no longer grumpy, but positively hostile.

Later requests for a date were firmly turned down. Soon after this David left Bombay. I missed our long talks about literature, and his youthful presence. He wanted to be a writer and showed me his poetry. When he returned from America he told me he wanted to write a long novel about his clan in Kerala. This has now been published, a decade after he first mentioned it to me, and has been praised. He is already the CEO of Penguin India, but I think he will be more pleased with his book than with his position, and I am pleased for him.

M&S restructures; Dinah Forbes, two others laid off

McClelland & Stewart president and publisher Doug Pepper announced major changes to the company’s organizational structure today as part of an attempt to focus its publishing program (and presumably cut costs). The most unfortunate bit of news is that industry veteran Dinah Forbes, who had been with the company for more than 20 years, most recently as executive editor, has been laid off, along with two other staffers, editorial assistant Aruna Dahanayake and office manager Barbara Phillips.

Meanwhile, publisher Ellen Seligman is retaining her title while also being given the added title of executive vice-president. According to Pepper, she will now “play a central role in helping [him] run the company and in creating [a] publishing strategy with a consolidated editorial team.”

Furthermore, executive editor Lara Hinchberger will add non-fiction acquisitions to her current duties (she had primarily been acquiring fiction prior to now); and senior editor Anita Chong will oversee the company’s paperback imprint, Emblem Books. Managing editor Elizabeth Kribs and editor Jenny Bradshaw will continue on in their current capacities.

Look for further updates from Q&Q soon.

Toronto Star stakes out Davidar home

Things just keep getting worse for ex-Penguin Canada president David Davidar. In a surprisingly tabloid-y move, the Toronto Star has staked out Davidar’s Deer Park-area house in an attempt to get further comment on the sexual harassment scandal currently engulfing him. There isn’t much new in the piece, but the Star did manage to get Davidar’s wife to answer the door:

“There’s so much I want to say,” Davidar’s wife, Rachna, tells the Star, shaking her head. “So much, but I’ve been asked to zip it.”

The home in Deer Park, southeast of Forest Hill, is quiet apart from the sound of Davidar talking into his phone. No sound of a TV or radio, which might be normal for a couple that’s made their livelihood in books.

“We’ll get through this together,” says Rachna, who comes from a prominent book-selling family in New Delhi and managed McNally Robinson’s former bookstore in Don Mills. They’ve been together for 15 years.

“He can’t talk,” she says, gently. “Please don’t ask him.”

Former Penguin staffer alleges that David Davidar assaulted her at Frankfurt Book Fair

The Globe and Mail has got hold of former Penguin Canada staffer Lisa Rundle’s sexual harassment claim against her old boss, the recently dismissed CEO of Penguin International, David Davidar. According to the Globe, Rundle is claiming $423,000 in damages against Penguin and another $100,000 in damages against Davidar personally.

The accusations are accompanied by quotations from several e-mail messages Mr. Davidar allegedly sent to Ms. Rundle during the period in question. Last year, he is said to have written that he “could do very little except think of [Ms. Rundle],” that she was “utterly gorgeous,” “a vision in pink sipping a champagne cocktail,” and that she should not be “stubborn” or “fight” him.

“Davidar over time became more and more intense with his persistent protestations of lust and desire for Lisa,” according to the claim, “and in return she became increasingly disturbed and afraid.”

The harassment allegedly culminated in an outright assault at the Frankfurt Book Fair last October when, according to the claim, Mr. Davidar appeared at Ms. Rundle’s hotel room door, “wearing excessive cologne, with buttons on his shirt undone down his waist.”

“Lisa stood in her hotel room into which Davidar had bullied his way, with her arms crossed, still near the door, and asked what he needed to discuss,” it said. “He told her to relax and just let him come in. She refused and said she wanted to go to sleep.”

Ms. Rundle claims she climbed on a windowsill to avoid her boss and again asked him to leave. “He forcibly pulled her off the ledge and grabbed her by the wrists, forcing his tongue into her mouth,” it said.

David Davidar asked to leave Penguin over sexual harassment allegations

Earlier this week, when news broke that Penguin Canada president David Davidar was resigning from the company, the explanation he gave Q&Q and the rest of the media was that he simply wanted to return to India with his wife, Rachna Davidar, and focus on his writing career. Late Friday afternoon, however, Penguin vice-president of marketing and publicity Yvonne Hunter sent out a rather shocking press release that flat-out contradicted his statements. The full text of the release is as follows:

Lisa Rundle, former Rights and Contracts Director of Penguin Canada, brought an action yesterday against David Davidar, the former President of Penguin Canada, alleging sexual harassment. Ms. Rundle also made a number of claims relating to Penguin Canada including wrongful termination.

Ms. Rundle was not terminated by Penguin Canada, but rather she advised the company of her decision to leave after having declined to pursue other career opportunities within the organization.

Mr. Davidar was asked to leave the company last month and his departure was announced on June 8. Mr. Davidar will play no further role in the company.

Penguin Canada expects to appoint a new head of the Canadian company in the near future.

Out of respect for the privacy of the individuals involved, the company will not provide further comment at this time.

Shortly after Penguin sent out its press release, Davidar himself sent the following message to Q&Q:

I was disappointed to learn today that Penguin Canada has made a public statement about litigation commenced against the company and myself.

Earlier this week it was announced that I would be leaving Penguin Canada.  At Penguin’s request, I agreed to publicly state that my departure was voluntary.  The truth is that a former colleague accused me of sexual harassment and Penguin terminated my employment.

I had a friendship with my colleague which lasted for three years.  I am utterly shocked by the allegations.  I am dismayed that Penguin Canada chose to respond to them by directing me to leave Penguin.  I intend to defend the allegations vigorously in the courts, and  I am certain that the truth will prevail.

As I said earlier this week, I intend to pursue my writing career. I do not intend to make further comment on the pending legal proceedings.

To add a bit of context to this unfolding story, Lisa Rundle started out at Penguin as contracts and rights assistant several years ago. On Oct. 31, 2005, Rundle announced that she was leaving the company for a position as rights and contracts coordinator at Random House of Canada. Almost immediately after that announcement, however, Rundle’s superior at Penguin, contracts manager Catherine MacGregor, left the company for a position with HarperCollins Canada. Consequently, Rundle changed her mind about leaving Penguin and stayed on to fill MacGregor’s role.

At the time, Davidar’s executive assistant Samantha Francis told Q&Q: “We went straight to Lisa [without interviewing anyone else.] We made her an excellent offer.” Also at that time, Davidar offered a statement through Francis: “Lisa Rundle is incredibly knowledgeable and is an excellent negotiator. She is someone I value very highly.”

In October of 2009, when Davidar became CEO of Penguin International and Nicole Winstanley took over as publisher, Rundle was promoted yet again, this time to director of rights and digital management. It is not clear when Rundle took leave of the company.

Chris Reed leaving TINARS

Chris Reed, longtime co-artistic director and series coordinator of the Toronto-based This is Not A Reading Series (TINARS), has announced that he is leaving the position for a new job as publicist for University of Toronto Press. He will start at UTP on June 21. Reed won’t be leaving TINARS behind entirely, however. He will continue to run the offshoot series for young people, Small Print Toronto.

A replacement for Reed has yet to be named.

UPDATED: David Davidar to leave Penguin

Penguin Canada president David Davidar – who took over the firm in fall 2003 and has been widely credited with returning it to good health – will soon be leaving the company and returning to India, his homeland.

[UPDATE] According to Penguin Canada director of marketing and publicity Yvonne Hunter, Davidar will not be continuing on with Penguin India, either. He is leaving the company altogether to pursue his writing career and other projects.

John Makinson, the U.K.-based chairman and CEO of Penguin Group, flew in to Toronto yesterday to join Davidar in conveying the news to staff and to explain how the company will be structured going forward.

Once Davidar leaves – which is likely to happen in July – staff will begin reporting to Penguin U.S. CEO David Shanks. According to Hunter, this is a permanent arrangement and Davidar will not be replaced. The most senior figure at Penguin Canada will now be publisher Nicole Winstanley, who is going on maternity leave in August. Ivan Held, publisher of Putnam U.S., will oversee the publishing program in Winstanley’s absence, and Nick Garrison, formerly of Doubleday Canada, will be handling the editing on several of her titles. Both Shank and Held will be flying to the Toronto offices next week to meet with staff and hammer out more of the arrangements.

When asked if the new reporting structure might mean changes to the Canadian publishing program, Hunter was emphatic: “Absolutely not. We have a really dynamic publishing program … that we absolutely intend to sustain.” Meanwhile, Winstanley stated in a press release that “the Canadian division will continue to publish robustly…. The new imprints that we have launched (Hamish Hamilton Canada in 2009 and Allen Lane Canada this year) reiterate our commitment to publish the best writers in Canada and abroad … and that is the direction we’ll continue in.”

Penguin Canada will continue to ship all lines from the Pearson Canada distribution centre in Newmarket, Ontario.