Canadian publisher McClelland & Stewart announced yesterday that its new non-fiction editor will be American editor Philip Rappaport, and he will be based in New York.
Questions about why the more than 100-year-old house known for its Canadian literature chose to hire an American were answered in part by Rappaport’s CV, which has plenty of Canadian content. After graduating from McGill University in Montreal and completing a French-language program Université de Montréal, he began his career in publishing as a bookseller at the gay, lesbian and feminist bookstore Librairie l’Androgyne in Montreal and later became co-owner. Rappaport also attended the Canadian Summer Publishing Workshop when it was held in the mountain resort of Banff, Alberta.
“I have a real affinity for Canada, still have many friends,” said Rappaport. “It really was my formation, that foundation. And when the initial opportunity presented itself to talk to [M&S president and publisher] Doug [Pepper] about this opportunity, I had no hesitation.” He noted that many of the books he first studied and loved at McGill were M&S books by authors such as Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro and Mavis Gallant.
Most recently, Rappaport was a senior editor at Bantam Delll. He worked previously at the Free Press, Routledge, and Springer. Writers he has worked with include Martin Seligman, James Garbarino, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mitch Horowitz, Tahir Shah, Richard Rodriguez, Leslie Baumann, Allan Pease, Alan Wolfe, Daniel Amen, Jeanne Safer, Ron Leshem and Howie Mandel. He is also the U.S. Representative of the Jerusalem International Book Fair and Fellowship Program.
Pepper says Rappaport’s love of Canadian literature and knowledge of the business here did help in the decision to hire Rappaport, but it wasn’t the only factor. Rappaport, he said, “has very broad taste and experience not to mention international reach which extends well beyond America in that he works for the Jerusalem Book Fair and the Jerusalem Fellowship with all those contacts.” He added that M&S needs to broaden its reach in terms of acquiring more books in addition to developing talent and projects in Canada and selling those abroad. He believes Rappaport can help the company on both fronts.
Hiring someone from outside Canada does not signal a shift away from the Canadian publishing M&S is known for, Pepper insisted. “But as everything heats up and the competition is so fierce having someone on the ground in New York is obviously a very good thing,” he said. “It’s not even just to buy work from foreign authors, but let’s face it, a lot of Canadian are represented out of New York, and I think it is a good message to send to agents in New York that there is somebody there that they can see on a more regular basis…. someone who will be able to give us some help in terms of penetrating that market more.”
