Jonathan Galassi
Jonathan Galassi
Jonathan Galassi born 1949 in Seattle, Washington, is the President and Publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, one of the eight major publishers in New York. He began his publishing career at Houghton Mifflin in Boston, moved to Random House in New York, and finally, to Farrar, Straus & Giroux. He joined FSG as executive editor in 1985, after being fired from Random House. Two years later, he was named editor-in-chief, and is now President and Publisher...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPublisher
CountryUnited States of America
aesthetic arguably believed brief great
The Futurists believed in the machine, in making a great big fuss, in being young. For a brief moment, they were arguably the most influential aesthetic provocateurs in the world.
business courses mechanics
There are courses you can take to learn the mechanics of the business, like the Radcliffe course, but I don't think they teach you how to edit.
deal poetry
I think poetry was always where I went to deal with my deepest feelings.
except poetry
I think poetry should be read very much like prose, except that the line breaks should be acknowledged somehow.
books finding helping publishers work writers
I think publishers need to be the ones that publish the books and control that process: finding writers, helping them with their work, finding readers. I think writers need that.
actual continue continuity delivery editor exactly
I think that the continuity of what I do as an editor with what I did when I started out 40 years ago is very direct. The delivery system is changing and will continue to, but the actual interaction between publisher and author is exactly the same.
published
John Updike's first published book was a collection of poems.
life poems
My poems are always about my life in one way or another.
gather italian mainly nearly poet published slow starter though work
I was nearly 40 when I published my first book. I was a slow starter - or rather, I was slow to gather my work together, though I had published translations, mainly of the Italian poet Montale, by then.
acts authors biggest concern force market
My biggest concern about the market is the force that acts to drive down price, because I think that's destructive to authors as well as publishers. Our biggest battle is to underline the value of intellectual property.
agent agents amount best determine figured good money rather
I think that a really good agent should be able to get the right publisher, which the agent has already figured out, get as much money as she can from that publisher, and make a deal, rather than have the amount of money determine the sale. That's what the best agents do.
casually forefront good throes
When you're in the throes of writing, I find, the lessons you've casually imparted to others are not in the forefront of your mind. Which may be good or bad. Probably both.
That's one thing about fiction: you can make the world be the way you think it should be.
What the beautiful-writing writers are most attached to is almost always superfluous.