Robert Weil (editor)
Robert Weil is an Executive Editor and Vice President of the publishing imprint W.W. Norton / Liveright.[1] From 2011 to 2022 he was the Editor-in-Chief and Publishing Director of Liveright, succeeded by Peter J. Simon in July, 2022.
Early life and career
Weil graduated from
W.W. Norton & Company / Liveright Publishing
In 1998, Weil moved to
In 2011, Weil was named the Editor-in-Chief and Publishing Director of Liveright Publishing Corporation.[9] Per a 2021 profile in Publishers Weekly, "The relaunched imprint released its first books in 2012. It started with two full-time staffers and a list of about 20 books per year, and has grown to eight staffers and about 40 books annually."[10] During Weil's tenure as Editor-in-Chief, Liveright received four Pulitzer Prizes (among nine finalists)[11] as well as a National Book Award (among eight nominees).[12] The current staff of Liveright includes Peter J. Simon, Peter Miller, Gina Iaquinta, Nick Curley, Haley Bracken, Clio Hamilton, Fanta Diallo, Maria Connors, Kadiatou Keita, and Luke Swann.
Additional work
Beyond editing, Weil frequently lectures on writing, publishing history, and the state of American culture and literature. He has spoken in Munich, Guadalajara, Miami, Chicago, and at Yale University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Nebraska, among others. He has also written on books and publishing for various publications including The Washington Post and ArtForum.
Selected authors edited by Robert Weil
- Edward Abbey
- Danielle Allen
- Anthony Appiah
- Simon Armitage
- John Ashbery
- Isaac Babel
- J. G. Ballard
- William Barber II
- John Bayley
- Mary Beard
- Heinrich Böll
- Max Boot
- Patricia Bosworth
- T.C. Boyle
- Pete Buttigieg
- Jerome Charyn
- Erwin Chemerinsky
- J. M. Coetzee
- Linda Colley
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Robert Crumb
- Aline Kominsky-Crumb
- Jack E. Davis
- Patti Davis
- Freeman Dyson
- Joseph J. Ellis
- Will Eisner
- Jules Feiffer
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti
- Ruth Franklin
- Martin Gardner
- Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Peter Gay
- William Giraldi
- Philip Glass
- Nadine Gordimer
- Annette Gordon-Reed
- Michael Gorra
- Allan Gurganus
- Yunte Huang
- Patricia Highsmith
- Jim Holt
- Clive James
- George F. Kennan
- Leslie S. Klinger
- Michael Korda
- Nicholas Lemann
- Jill Lepore
- Primo Levi
- David Levering Lewis
- Nelson Mandela
- Wilma Mankiller
- Russell Means
- Paul McCartney
- Larry McMurtry
- Alan Mikhail
- N. Scott Momaday
- Edmund Morgan (historian)
- Jan Morris
- Benjamin Moser
- Paul Muldoon
- Charles Ogletree
- Les Payne
- Tamara Payne
- Leonard Peltier
- James Poniewozik
- Henry Roth
- Joseph Roth
- Richard Rothstein
- Amartya Sen
- Roger Shattuck
- Peter Singer
- Edward Sorel
- David Small
- Gerry Spence
- Oliver Stone
- Maria Tatar
- Marilyn vos Savant
- Edward O. Wilson
- Frank B. Wilderson III
Selected works edited by Robert Weil
Year | Title | Author | Accolades |
---|---|---|---|
1996 | From Bondage (Mercy of a Rude Stream, Vol. 3) | Henry Roth | Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction |
1997 | The Smell of Apples: A Novel | Mark Behr | Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction |
1998 | All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery | Henry Mayer | Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction |
1999 | The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White | Henry Wiencek | National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography |
1999 | Elegy for Iris | John Bayley | New York Times Bestseller
Basis for Iris (2001 film) |
2000 | Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the Amazon | Patrick Tierney | Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction |
2003 | Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales | Nelson Mandela (Editor) | NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Children
|
2005 | Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism | Geoffrey R. Stone | Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History |
2008 | The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family | Annette Gordon-Reed | Pulitzer Prize for History National Book Award for Nonfiction Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography |
2008 | The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British |
Sarah Lyall | New York Times Bestseller
|
2009 | Stitches: A Memoir | David Small | Finalist for the New York Times Bestseller
|
2009 | The Book of Genesis |
Robert Crumb | New York Times Bestseller
|
2009 | Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression | Morris Dickstein | Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism |
2010 | Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits | Linda Gordon | Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History The Bancroft Prize |
2010 | Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History | Yunte Huang | Finalist for the Edgar Award (Critical/Biographical) (Nonfiction)
California Book Award |
2012 | Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece | Michael Gorra | Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography |
2012 | The Social Conquest of Earth | Edward O. Wilson |
New York Times Notable Book
Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction |
2012 | Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story | Jim Holt | New York Times Bestseller for Nonfiction
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award |
2013 | Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures, and Innovations | Mary Beard | Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism |
2013 | Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present | Max Boot | New York Times Bestseller
|
2013 | Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life | Jonathan Sperber | Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography |
2013 | Letters to a Young Scientist | Edward O. Wilson |
New York Times Bestseller
|
2014 | Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade | Walter Kirn | New York Times Bestseller
|
2014 | The Last Kind Words Saloon: A Novel | Larry McMurtry | New York Times Bestseller
|
2014 | The Meaning of Human Existence | Edward O. Wilson |
New York Times Bestseller
Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction |
2014 | Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time | Ira Katznelson | The Bancroft Prize |
2015 | The Complete Works of Primo Levi | Primo Levi, translated by Ann Goldstein | New York Times Notable Book
|
2015 | SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome | Mary Beard | New York Times Bestseller for Nonfiction
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award |
2015 | Words Without Music: A Memoir | Philip Glass | New York Times Bestseller
|
2016 | Cousin Joseph: A Graphic Novel | Jules Feiffer | New York Times Bestseller
|
2016 | ’’Most Blessed of the Patriarchs’’: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination | Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf | New York Times Bestseller
|
2016 | New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America | Wendy Warren | Finalist for the New York Times Notable Book
|
2016 | Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life | Ruth Franklin | New York Times Notable Book
|
2017 | The Annotated African American Folktales | Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Maria Tatar |
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction |
2017 | The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America | Richard Rothstein | Longlisted for the Hillman Prize
|
2017 | The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea | Jack E. Davis | New York Times Notable Book
|
2018 | The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam | Max Boot | Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
|
2018 | These Truths: A History of the United States | Jill Lepore | New York Times Bestseller
|
2018 | We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights | Adam Winkler | Shortlisted for the New York Times Notable Book
|
2018 | The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela | Nelson Mandela | NPR Best Books of 2018 |
2019 | Audience of One: Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America | James Poniewozik | New York Times Notable Book
|
2019 | Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History | Yunte Huang | Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography |
2019 | Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future | Pete Buttigieg | New York Times Bestseller
|
2020 | Afropessimism | Frank B. Wilderson III | Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction |
2020 | The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X | Les Payne and Tamara Payne | New York Times Notable Book
|
2020 | If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future | Jill Lepore | Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction |
2020 | The Saddest Words: William Faulkner's Civil War | Michael Gorra | New York Times Notable Book
|
2020 | Trust: America's Best Chance | Pete Buttigieg | New York Times Bestseller
|
2021 | On Juneteenth | Annette Gordon-Reed | New York Times Bestseller New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year New York Times Critics Best Books of 2021 |
2021 | Pessoa: A Biography | Richard Zenith | New York Times Critics Best Books of 2021 Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
|
2021 | The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present | Paul McCartney | New York Times Bestseller
Barnes & Noble Book of the Year |
2023 | 1964: Eyes of the Storm | Paul McCartney | New York Times Bestseller
|
2023 | Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World | Mary Beard | New York Times Bestseller
|
2023 | Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History | Yunte Huang | New York Times Notable Book for Biography
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award |
References
- ^ ""Norton Revives Liveright Imprint." Poets and Writers". September 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ^ ""Robert Weil and the Music of Editing." PW". Retrieved July 8, 2011.
- ^ ""Robert Weil and the Music of Editing." PW". Retrieved July 8, 2011.
- ^ "Heyman Center". Retrieved March 26, 2015.
- ^ "Irene Lacher. "The Sunday Conversation: Robert Weil." Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
- ^ "How Anna von Planta edited Patricia Highsmith's new diaries - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. 11 November 2021.
- ^ "David Sedaris's Diaries and Paul McCartney's Songs". The New York Times. 24 December 2021.
- ^ "Paul McCartney Doesn't Really Want to Stop the Show". The New Yorker. 8 October 2021.
- ^ "Emily Witt. "Robert Weil and Star Lawrence Discuss Changes at Norton." The New York Observer". The New York Observer. 7 July 2011. Retrieved July 7, 2011.
- ^ "For Liveright, Good Editing is Good Business".
- ^ "Pulitzer Prize | History, Winners, & Facts | Britannica".
- ^ "National Book Awards 2021".
External links
- Ronald Collins, An Interview with Robert Weil, Washington Independent Review of Books (April 5, 2016)
- Virtual Memories Show 261: Robert Weil
- Robert Weil on Publishing Tinderbox
- Robert Weil on Publishing Nelson Mandela's Letters from Prison
- Liveright to Publish Nelson Mandela's Prison Letters
- An Interview with Robert Weil
- Liveright Publishing Corporation
- Robert Weil on publishing German literature
- Liveright and Robert Weil to Publish The Complete Works of Primo Levi
- Michael Dirda discusses the Complete Works of Primo Levi and Robert Weil's publishing career
- C-SPAN BookTV interview with Robert Weil
- Frank B. Wilderson III on his book Afropessimism and working with Robert Weil