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| Dana Canedy | |
Dana Canedy, who joined Simon & Schuster in July 2020 as senior v-p and publisher of the S&S trade imprint, is giving up the position in order to concentrate on her writing, in particular the sequel to A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor, her 2008 memoir that was adapted into a movie by Denzel Washington and released last year. As a co-producer, she was deeply involved in the making of the movie. A Journal for Jordan is about Canedy's life with her war-hero partner and the journal he left behind for their infant son before he was killed in combat in Iraq.
In announcing the change to staff, S&S president and CEO Jonathan Karp noted that S&S has acquired the book, which it plans to publish in 2024, and called Canedy's choice to step down as publisher "a difficult decision which reflects Dana's professionalism and her understandable belief that it would be hard to excel as both an author and a publisher simultaneously. Although we will miss working day-to-day with Dana, I fully support her decision to devote herself to this project, which I'm sure will ultimately be a great benefit to Simon & Schuster and multitudes of readers."
Canedy succeeded Karp when he was promoted to president and CEO of S&S following the death of Carolyn Reidy in May 2020. Karp is resuming the role of publisher of the S&S imprint "for the foreseeable future." He also emphasized that Canedy "will remain very much a part of the Simon & Schuster family, so no goodbyes are necessary. In fact, Dana will be available to all of us for consultation on any publishing matters, including to see through the publication of books by Eugene Robinson and Mike Pence's memoir, which she was instrumental in acquiring, and Erica Armstrong Dunbar, whom Dana has championed since she arrived at Simon & Schuster."
Canedy commented: "It has been so rewarding to work with the talented, dedicated, and truly collegial staff at Simon & Schuster. I am pleased to continue to be a part of the Simon & Schuster family, collaborating with the team to bring readers books by these important authors. I had not quite expected the profound impact that our movie would have on me. And after the overwhelming response to it, prompting daily requests for a follow-up to my first book, I concluded that the time is right to write the sequel to A Journal for Jordan. Knowing as I do the quality and the pride that Simon & Schuster applies to every book it publishes, I can also think of no better home for my next book."
From 2017 to 2020, Canedy was administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes and before that spent 20 years at the New York Times, writing on a range of topics including business and finance, race and class, terrorism, politics, law enforcement, and crime. She was a lead writer and editor on the series "How Race Is Lived in America," which won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. Earlier she was a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Palm Beach Post.
Karp added, "Over the past two years, Dana Canedy has improved and bolstered the Simon & Schuster imprint in innumerable ways: by attracting incredibly talented authors and editors; by offering us fresh eyes on our practices through her perspective as an award-winning journalist and bestselling author; and by bringing vitality, voice, and humanity to Simon & Schuster, as I knew she would."