Today's New York Times includes Nina Bourne's obituary. Ms. Bourne was one of the great, if not the greatest, book publicists of all time. (I worked for Lois Shapiro @ Dutton, so I know what I'm talking about.) Ms. Bourne brought to market the Eloise books, Catch - 22, and all of Robert Caro's books. --Just that would be a career.
She also taught at the Radcliffe Publishing Procedures Program where I was blessed enough to enjoy conversation with her over a glass of sherry.
From the obituary:
Initially employed as a secretary to Richard Simon, one of the company’s two founders, she demonstrated a flair for writing advertising copy under the tutelage of the legendary Jack Goodman, whose restrained, even self-deprecatory, style influenced her deeply. On the side she wrote light verse, which The New Yorker published from time to time.
Ms. Bourne, fresh out of Radcliffe, gained entree into book publishing by writing a letter of application to Simon & Schuster in the form of a poem that presented her qualifications while weaving in the names of the company’s top writers and book titles.
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