Under clear skies Tuesday evening at New York City's Chelsea Piers, Simon & Schuster celebrated its centenary with authors, editors, agents, art directors, booksellers, sales reps, publicists, marketing directors, and many other book enthusiasts, along with wonderful food, drinks, and music.
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| S&S chair Richard Sarnoff | |
The remarks were brief, following the "Author! Author!" event Monday night at New York's Town Hall, which featured some 30 S&S authors, including surprise guests such as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and comedian Jerry Seinfeld, as well as rock-star contributors to the S&S list such as Judy Blume, Judith Viorst, and Jason Reynolds.
A crowd that spilled over onto the terrace at Pier 60 on the Hudson gathered around the dance floor to hear the remarks of Richard Sarnoff, chairman of media, entertainment, and education for the Americas at KKR, who serves as chairman of the S&S board (KKR purchased S&S from Paramount Global last fall).
"This could be a board meeting," Sarnoff said, "since all of the Simon & Schuster employees are now shareholders." Loud cheers erupted from the audience. Sarnoff said he was honored to have known the previous leaders of the publishing house, including Dick Snyder, Jack Romanos, and Carolyn Reidy: "Tonight we remember and honor her," Sarnoff said of Reidy, who died suddenly in 2020.
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| S&S president and CEO Jonathan Karp | |
Then Sarnoff introduced S&S president and CEO Jonathan Karp, who welcomed everyone and joked, "We're going to have to sell a lot of books to pay for this party." He spoke of Max Schuster and Richard Simon's first book, The Crossword Puzzle Book, published (of course) in 1924, and their promise to "publish good books and only good books. Books that we have read and about which we are generally enthusiastic."--a credo to which Karp adheres. He then proudly held up a proclamation from Mayor Eric Adams that April 9 was "Simon & Schuster Day." The inaugural song to start the dancing was Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" (she's the daughter of Richard Simon, co-founder of the 100-year-old institution). Many happy returns, S&S! --Jennifer M. Brown