By Emily Witt 12/08/11 9:12am

Goodbye to all that

Silverberg, right, singing with Bob Morris in 2008.

Hi Ho Silverberg! Lit Agent Books it to Washington, Leaves Publishing Bereft

Everybody in New York publishing is very happy for Ira Silverberg. The former literary agent, a fixture in the industry for 26 years, started his new job as literary director at the National Endowment for the Arts earlier this week. And from the day his departure was announced to the day the job began, colleagues and clients have affected determined good cheer.

“I’m sorry for his writers,” said Sarah Burnes, a literary agent and friend. “But I’m happy for the writers of America.”

“It’s the perfect job for him,” said Lorin Stein, editor of The Paris Review, “securing money for worthy projects — especially projects that aren’t on the face of it worthy or obvious.”

But beneath all the breezy congratulations a hint of dread could be detected. Ira Silverberg might have left New York, but was New York ready to lose Ira Silverberg? Especially to Washington D.C.? Read More

By Molly Fischer 6/18/10 3:32pm

Bill Clegg, Ex-Addict, Apologized Just in Time for Memoir

A few months before the publication of Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man, Little, Brown publisher Michael Pietsch was distressed to learn that the book’s author, literary agent Bill Clegg, had never properly apologized to the business partner he abandoned while in the throes of his crack habit. That business partner, Sarah Burnes, Read More