Hachette Book Group has announced that Grand Central Publishing will not publish Woody Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing, and will return all rights to the author. The book was originally scheduled for sale in April 2020.
"The decision to cancel Mr. Allen’s book was a difficult one," the statement read. "At HBG we take our relationships with authors very seriously, and do not cancel books lightly. We have published and will continue to publish many challenging books. As publishers, we make sure every day in our work that different voices and conflicting points of views can be heard."
It continued: "Also, as a company, we are committed to offering a stimulating, supportive and open work environment for all our staff. Over the past few days, HBG leadership had extensive conversations with our staff and others. After listening, we came to the conclusion that moving forward with publication would not be feasible for HBG."
The decision to cancel the book comes only four days after Grand Central announced that it would publish the director's memoir and one day after employees at the imprint and a number of its sister imprints—including Basic, Forever, Hachette Books, Little, Brown, and Orbit—staged a walkout in protest of the acquisition.
Allen has been accused by his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, of molesting her in 1992, when she was seven years old. Little, Brown is the publisher of Ronan Farrow, the author of the bestselling Harvey Weinstein exposé Catch and Kill and Allen's estranged son, who has staunchly defended his sister and stood by her allegations in spite of Allen's consistent denials. Farrow severed his ties with the publisher earlier this week over its intention to publish the memoir.
