Tag: Author relationships

1978: Harper & Row publishes Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series…

Harper & Row publishes the first book in Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series after it is serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle. The series highlights gay issues and becomes a cultural icon for generations of readers. More

And Then There Were None

The bestselling crime novel of all time. More

Letter from C. S. Lewis

In this letter to Collins publisher Billy Collins, dated November 1954, C. S. Lewis—author of The Chronicles of Narnia series, Mere Christianity, and The Screwtape Letters, among others—outlines what he sees as his three types of “literary output”: “A. Religious and General. B. Fiction. C. Academic.” More

Handwritten letter from John Gray regarding his manuscript for Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus

John Gray sent 330 pages of his manuscript for Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus to his editor Susan Moldow on September 25, 1991, accompanied by this handwritten note. More

1949: Harper & Brothers publishes the Pulitzer-Prize winning Annie Allen by Gwendolyn Brooks…

Harper & Brothers publishes Annie Allen by Gwendolyn Brooks, which wins the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and makes Brooks the first African American writer to receive the award. More

1961: The first Beginner Books by Dr. Seuss are published by Collins in the UK…

The first Beginner Books by Dr. Seuss are published by Collins in the UK. This series includes The Cat in the Hat (which had been previously published by Collins in 1958 and was an immediate success) and Green Eggs and Ham. More

Letter from Russell Hoban, author of Bread and Jam for Frances

Russell Hoban is known for his classic series about Frances, a badger who is a picky eater with a huge aversion to eggs (Bread and Jam for Frances). More

1923: The Harper Prize Novel is introduced as a competition to discover unknown authors…

The Harper Prize Novel is introduced as a competition to discover unknown authors, and receives more than 700 submissions in its first year. The first winner, The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson, is later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (1924). More

Stuart Little

White’s beloved classic about a small mouse on a big adventure is a perennial bestseller. More

George Eliot

Mary Anne Evans, born in 1819, led a turbulent life that often broke with Victorian social norms. More

Riders of the Purple Sage

Often called “the most popular Western novel of all time,” this classic helped shape the Western genre. More

Peace with God

First book from Billy Graham, said to be the most influential Christian voice of this century. More

The Hobbit

J. R. R. Tolkien’s enchanting tale became an instant success when it was first published. More

Amistad

HarperCollins’s Amistad Press is the oldest imprint devoted to titles for the African American market at any major New York publishing house. More

Eloisa James

The simple answer is that I love a happy ending. More

Eloisa James

One Hundred Years of Solitude

This landmark of magical realism sparked a wave of interest in Central and South American literature. More

Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez drew on his childhood experiences in Colombia when crafting the story of the fictional Buendía family in the classic One Hundred Years of Solitude. More

1924: “Queen of Crime” Agatha Christie joins the house of Collins…

“Queen of Crime” Agatha Christie joins the house of Collins, and two years later publishes her seminal Hercule Poirot novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. More

Judith Kerr

Why I write: Usually, so that I can do the illustrations. More

Judith Kerr

1970: Harper & Row publishes the first English translation of One Hundred Years of Solitude…

Harper & Row publishes the first English translation of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, establishing him as a leading young Latin American writer and a dominant and innovative figure on the global literary scene. More

Periodicals: Harper’s Weekly, Harper’s New Monthly and Harper’s Bazaar

The Harper brothers consistently sought ways to reach more readers with less expensive publications, and in 1850 they revolutionized the concept of the modern literary magazine with Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. More

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Classic children’s story about imagination that has never been out of print. More

Original proposal for Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes

Lawrence Hill’s agent, Janet Turnbull Irving, submitted this one-page summary for his as yet unwritten novel Migration to HarperCollins Canada Editor-in-Chief Iris Tupholme in 1998. More

Michael Bond

I was brought up in a house where books were an essential part of the furnishings. More

Michael Bond

Blonde

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. More

To Kill a Mockingbird

When J. B. Lippincott (later acquired by HarperCollins) editor Therese (Tay) von Hohoff saw the first draft of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), she saw a promising story, but one in need of some reshaping and editing. More

Little Bear

The very first I Can Read! book has sold more than one million copies. More