Neil Nyren, the executive v-p, associate publisher, and editor-in-chief at Putnam Press, will retire at the end of the year, after 33 years with the publisher. The news was announced in a letter to staff from Ivan Held, president of Putnam, Dutton and Berkley.
Prior to his time at Putnam, Nyren worked at E. P. Dutton, Little, Brown, Random House, Arbor House, and Atheneum. He was known, in particular, for his love of mysteries and thrillers. His authors, over the years, included Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy, John Sandford, Patricia Cornwell, Daniel Silva, Ken Follett, Maureen Dowd, Dave Barry, Andy Rooney, Bob Schieffer, Senator Harry Reid and Wayne Gretzky. He was also, Held said, the first to publish Carl Hiaasen, Garrison Keillor, and Ian McEwan.
Nyren was awarded the Ellery Queen Award for “outstanding people in the mystery publishing industry” from the Mystery Writers of America this year. He will continue to work on projects with the Mystery Writers of America, as well as other initiatives with the crime- fiction community.
