Tess Gallagher, the wife of late author Raymond Carver, filed a copyright suit last Friday against Skyhorse Publishing over the book Carver Country: The World of Raymond Carver. The suit claims the book has unauthorized excerpts and photos. Last year, Skyhorse bought Arcade, which originally published Carver Country in 1994.
“We purchased the assets of five companies in the past 18 months and are negotiating for two others," said Tony Lyons, publisher at Skyhorse. "We are learning that sometimes the rights situations on older titles turn out to be different than they appear to be from looking through the contract files. We are committed to keeping the wonderful Arcade backlist alive and the work of great writers like Raymond Carver and great photographers like Bob Adelman in print, even in cases where we know that it’s unlikely that we will make a profit.”
Carver Country, according to Bookscan, has sold 26 copies lifetime, Lyons said.
Said Lyons, "We hope we’ll be able to settle the lawsuit in the near future, but have not been able to get in touch with the plaintiff’s attorney."
