Yale UP Director John Donatich to Retire in 2025
Yale University Press director John Donatich will retire on June 30, 2025. Donatich has held the role since 2003. Previously, he served as v-p and publisher of Basic Books.
Donatich is founding editor of the Cecile and Theodore Margellos World Republic of Letters, dedicated to bringing world literature into the English language. Authors published to date include Adonis, Can Xue, Norman Manea, Pierre Michon, Serhiy Zhadan, and three recent Nobel laureates: Elfriede Jelinek, Patrick Modiano, and Annie Ernaux.
More recently, Donatich also partnered with the Windham Campbell Literature Prizes at Yale to publish the annual “Why I Write” lectures delivered by the prizes’ keynote speakers, which have included Patti Smith, Joy Harjo, and Eileen Myles, among others.
In 2023 Donatich initiated and oversaw the agreement for a new sales and distribution partnership with W. W. Norton & Company—only the third change in distribution in the Press’s 115-year history. Norton will begin to handle sales and distribution of Yale’s list to wholesale, retail, library, and specialty accounts starting in fall 2024.
