Random House calls off its annual Frankfurt party

In yet another sign of financial turmoil, Random House parent company Bertelsmann has cancelled its annual Frankfurt Book Fair soiree – long a staple of the fall publishing calendar, and the one Frankfurt party everyone seemed to be invited to. From Publishers Weekly:

A spokesperson for the publisher issued a statement saying that “this course of action is consistent with our not hosting any corporate social events this spring at the LBF or BEA. We’ve been informing many of our longstanding invited international guests of our intention, and while disappointed, they are unsurprised and respectful of our decision. Random House will explore other Frankfurt Book Fair social-event opportunities in future years.”

Besides being one of the largest Frankfurt get togethers, the lavish, fully catered party was a great opportunity to skip dining in one of the city’s overpriced bistros, at least according to journalist Gideon Lewis-Kraus, whose recent Harper’s essay about last year’s fair referred to the gathering as “the last Bertelsmann party ever”:

It’s hard to concentrate in the glare from the hot, glowing mauve-jelly projections on the walls and the crowd around us is stuffing itself on dry roast beef and lake sushi. People are really digging in. [British publisher Patrick] Janson-Smith looks around and says with disgust that some of these people aren’t even going to go out for a proper dinner; they’re just going to eat their fill here. You can tell from how much people seem to be enjoying their buffet food that it’s got to be a pretty heavily umlauted crowd.

Recession woes for Borders UK and Bertelsmann

There are more signs this week that the beleaguered book-selling chain Borders UK could be up for sale. On Thursday, The Independent reported that owner Luke Johnson has hired a corporate finance firm to seek out new “funding opportunities” for the 51-store chain.

The bookseller, which operates the Borders and Book etc fascias, has hired Clearwater Corporate Finance to run any sale, although a sales memorandum has not yet been sent out. The appointment is the clearest signal yet that the Channel 4 chairman Mr Johnson – whose private equity house Risk Capital Partners acquired Borders UK for £20m in 2007 – is poised to offload the struggling bookseller. Market sources said that Borders UK, which is believed to be loss-making, could be sold for a nominal sum.

Borders UK declined to comment on speculation that it would be put up for sale, but a spokeswoman confirmed it had appointed an adviser to “seek out funding opportunities”. She added: “We will be keeping our staff and suppliers fully appraised of this activity.”

In other recession-related news, Bertelsmann, the company that owns Random House, has denied speculation that it plans to cut as many as 10,000 jobs across its various divisions, though CEO Hartmut Ostrowski has allowed that the company is preparing for “the largest cost cutting program in [Bertelsmann's] history” to cope with the global economic slowdown.

Secrets of the Canadian literary cabal

Stephen Henighan, known for his biting, if occasionally conspiracy-minded, commentary on the Canadian literary scene, takes aim at the Scotiabank Giller Prize in this column for Geist. Henighan calls the prize a symptom of the sickness ruining literature, saying, “Nothing signaled the collapse of the literary organism as vividly as the appearance of this glitzy chancre on the hide of our culture.” The column questions the prevalence of shortlisted books coming from publishers owned by the Bertelsmann Group, such as Knopf Canada, Random House Canada, and McClelland & Stewart (in which Bertelsmann has a 25% stake).

Henighan also makes much of Margaret Atwood’s connection to this year’s winner, Vincent Lam. Atwood helped Lam find a publisher and introduced the author at the gala. While his first observation, that “Margaret Atwood does not introduce losers,” holds some credence, he takes the point a little too far with his further comments. “By placing her authority behind Lam, she was giving the equivalent of el dedazo, the crook of the finger with which a Mexican president signals his successor.”

Quillblog’s favourite conspiratorial fact is Henighan’s observation that almost all Giller winners between 1994 and 2004 lived within a two-hour drive of Yonge and Bloor.

(Quillblog had been telepathically instructed by Margaret Atwood not to blog about this, but luckily we were able to briefly block her powerful brainwaves – emanating, of course, from the Yonge/Bloor epicentre – with our homemade tinfoil helmets.)

Exclusive: The 2006 Giller Conspiracy Runs Deep
Below is a photo of Margaret “El Dedazo” Atwood in a lineup with Giller jury member Michael “Mr. Tall” Winter. Was Vincent Lam’s Giller win arranged in the joint? Is Atwood Keyzer Soze?

(OK, it’s just an old Anansi ad, but suspicious nonetheless.)