Oprah has chosen Middlesex, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jeffrey Eugenides (Picador, $15, 9780312427733/0312427735), as her next book club pick. The club describes the title whose main character is a hermaphrodite this way: "Calliope Stephanides doesn't feel like the other girls her age. To understand why, she must uncover a guilty family secret and an astonishing genetic history that stretches from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus at the beginning of the century to the Detroit race riots of 1967."

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Yesterday Scooter Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000 for his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the case concerning the outing of CIA operations officer Valerie Plame Wilson.

As we mentioned last week, The United States v. I. Lewis Libby edited by Murray Wass (Union Square Press, $12.95, 9781402752599/1402752598), coincidentally was released yesterday. The book includes an edited trial transcript, opening and closing statements by both sides, commentary on testimony by each witness, illustrations of trial exhibits, a timeline, a cast of characters and more. Editor and reporter Murray Waas has written extensively about the CIA leak case for the National Journal; his work has also appeared in the New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.

Congratulations to Philip Turner on this first title from Union Square Press. Also yesterday Turner was promoted to v-p and editorial director of Sterling Publishing. He will be responsible for non-illustrated titles and continue to head Union Square Press.

In other changes at Sterling, Carlo DeVito has also been promoted to v-p and editorial director, responsible for the Hearst imprint and all puzzle and games titles. He continues to be in charge of the Sterling Innovation imprint.

Michael Fragnito, v-p and editorial director (apparently a popular title at Sterling), assumes additional responsibility for illustrated categories.

Effective July 31, Martin Schamus is retiring as senior v-p, business development. He joined the company in 1979 as director of special sales.

Effective June 12, Patricia Gift is resigning as v-p and editorial director of Sterling Publishing.

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Where are the male readers? On June 15, Port Hope, Ontario's Furby House Books will try to find out by offering a Men's Night, featuring "an Oxford-style debate, cold beer and nuts," according to Northumberland Today.

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The Des Moines Register reported that Teri Wood TeBockhorst plans to open East Village Books, a 4,200-sq.-ft. shop, in Des Moines on November 1.

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John Gaylord and his sister, Judy Smith, are concerned about the survival of their bookstore--Liberty Books & News, Upper Arlington, Ohio--according to the Columbus Dispatch. "My family and I have been schlepping books in Columbus since 1970," said Gaylord. "We're fighting the good fight, trying to stay open."

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Christine Boyd, director of marketing for HarperCollins, has been promoted to v-p, marketing. She joined the company in 2000 and has directed the marketing campaigns for such authors as Michael Crichton, Lisa Scottoline, Barbara Kingsolver, Vikram Chandra, Janet Evanovich, Michael Chabon and more.

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• Libraries have a significant impact on categories where sales typically aren't high, such as first novels and genre fiction.
• The Skokie Public Library in Illinois plans to purchase 100 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and open its doors at midnight for a wizardly celebration.
• The trade paperback format has "transformed how libraries buy," Jenko said. "We use them until they fall apart and then we're going to buy more." She noted that libraries are buying an increased number of trade paperback originals.
• Being in touch with popular culture is crucial for librarians, Burger noted, because books featured on TV shows and radio programs and in magazines and newspapers often drive requests.
• Libraries should use their websites to share information such as book reviews, what book clubs are reading and hot titles of the week.
• Publishers might want to consider adding libraries to author tours. The Princeton Public Library, which partners with a local bookstore and receives a percentage of sales, will hold an event later this month with Walter Isaacson, whose new book is Einstein: His Life and Universe.
• Publishers should consider sending sales reps to call on collection development librarians.
• Librarians need title information 8-10 months in advance of publication. For new books in a series, it's beneficial to know as soon as a book is signed up, as patrons regularly inquire when the next book is coming. Advance reading copies are beneficial for librarians to have.
• Many libraries have readers advisors, a key person to receive information about new and forthcoming titles.

--Shannon McKenna

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• Nancy Pearl, whose new book is Book Crush: For Kids and Teens--Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Interest (Sasquatch Books, $16.95, 9781570615009/1570615004)
• Ann M. Martin, whose new book, part of her Main Street series, is Welcome to Camden Falls (Scholastic, $6.99, 9780439868792/0439868793)

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For many years a book reviewer at the New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt was named editorial director of Delphinium Books, the small literary press that is distributed by HarperCollins, earlier this year. Recently we asked him several questions about his new position.

What led you to join Delphinium?

An offer came along by chance, and it appealed to me as an opportunity to finish up business I began in the early 1960s--that is, learn more about publishing than I got to know in five years of playing musical chairs among three houses, where I rose from doing everything at a marginal house, A. S. Barnes & Co., from reading unsolicited manuscripts to illustrating a children's book, to being senior editor at the Dial Press, where I edited the likes of James Baldwin and Norman Mailer. But there was a lot I didn't learn, and now I get to go to finishing school, so to speak.

Do you plan to change anything at Delphinium?

I have a couple of ideas for good nonfiction books, one on fly-fishing, another on sports photography. I've always felt that a good book could be written about anything, and now I hope to have a chance to prove that by publishing one or two very offbeat ones.

Is the pace working at a book publisher much different from that of a daily newspaper?

Very different, a matter of months and years instead of minutes and hours. But the pressure is as great because have to think about 10 things at once instead of just reading, researching and writing to deadline.

Please tell us about the press's new book, Male of the Species.

Male is a first-rate (though I says it) collection of stories deconstructing the role of the male in American culture. In the title story, a teacher threatens to flunk the star football running back in a Texas high school. In "Stories of the Hunt," a father finally takes his son on his annual deer hunt and reveals he knows less about the woods than the son does. In "Sabor a Mi," an old Mexican guy has to accept the notion of his daughter marrying another woman. And so it goes with humor, absurdity, pathos and suspense. The stories grab the reader and Alex Mindt's voice is unique and catchy. When I began in book publishing more than 40 years ago, this collection would have been snapped up by any house in a heartbeat, and for a good advance too. Think of Irvin Faust, Ivan Gold or even Goodbye, Columbus. That the book took seven years to find a publisher is a measure of how much the business has changed and why Delphinium is much needed.

What projects are you working on?

A good novel, The Pig Did It, a comedy set in Ireland by Joseph Caldwell, full of comically lyrical writing; and a couple more very good story collections. I'm amazed at the high quality of the stuff on our forthcoming list, much better than the average book I got to read as a reviewer. I honestly would have raved had I gotten to review them, but then of course I'd say that, being in the position I now am.

Have you had any surprises good or bad in your new position?

To repeat, I've been pleasantly surprised by the high quality of what Delphinium gets to do by taking the books that the conglomerates don't see as bestsellers or brand names. I've been unpleasantly surprised by how hard it is to get attention for books these days, amidst the blare of all the visual media. What happened to book reviewing? Does nobody read anymore?

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We're Reading the World this month. You should know that. Maybe you do. During June, this column will focus on translated work from a variety of perspectives. I won't preach because, even though I try to make a place in my reading life for translated work, I could read more than I do.

Perhaps the best place to start would be the beginning, June 1, when I attended BEA's "Publishing Literary Translations: Reading the World Update." Moderated by Chad Post of Dalkey Archive Press, the panel included Esther Allen, executive director, Center for Literary Translation, Columbia University; Steve Wasserman, agent with Fish & Richardson and former editor of the LA Times Book Review; Barbara Epler, editor-in-chief, New Directions; and Karl Pohrt, owner, Shaman Drum Books, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Esther Allen cited the "absolutely massive quantities of export and very little import" of books in the U.S. as both startling and deeply problematic. She said that "only 20% of the world speaks English," yet "exporting books in English is a $3 billion industry, while translating books into English is viewed as not as important."

Steve Wasserman said, "I don't speak another language, so I'm in so much debt to translators." But he also expressed concern about the minimal attention being paid to translation, adding that "globalization is being driven by a provincial population. I sometimes think that no book in English, however mediocre, goes unpublished in America. We exist as a nation given wholly to our own navel-gazing."

He told a story from his tenure at the Los Angeles Times. He had chosen to run a feature about the Penguin Classics edition of the poetry of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, but some resistance to the idea caused doubts. When he took a lunch break, his waiter, a man who'd been educated in Mexico, noticed the book's cover and began speaking enthusiastically about her work and reciting lines from memory. Wasserman's decision was made in that dining room.

"Sometimes," he said, "your readers are ahead of your minders."

Wasserman asked Barbara Epler to recall an example of an unknown foreign author who achieved success here. She mentioned W.G. Sebald and Rings of Saturn. "When I received the translation, it was remarkable," she said, adding that one of the first manuscript readers had cautioned, "I wouldn't advise you to publish this book because it's too intellectual for Americans."

Generally, however, initial readings were positive, and a key ingredient turned out to be sending an early copy to Susan Sontag, who did some passionate handselling of her own, calling book review editors and anyone who might help the cause.

Case by case, author by author, and book by book, the possibilities exist, but how does a publisher like New Directions survive and sometimes thrive when so many other houses resist translated work?

"Because we're so small and because we've been doing it for so many years, we think it's possible," said Epler. "I don't think many editors can risk publishing a book that sells only 500 copies. You know you're taking a loss. You're taking risks. An editor is at risk with an American book, so they're at twice the risk with a foreign author. And some of the chain stores are really allergic to translations."

On the other hand, "It's the land of opportunity if you have the kind of publishing house that has the patience," she said.

New Directions is one of 10 publishers (and numerous bookstores) participating in Reading the World. Karl Pohrt hopes the initiative will continue to grow. "We'd like to be able to bring more publishers into the program," he said. "And maybe do a Reading the World for young people." During BEA, he formally asked the ABA board of directors to consider partnering with Reading the World.

"I prefer to use the term world literature over translation," said Pohrt, who also addressed the common objection that reading translated work is more difficult and tends to put American readers off. He pointed out that genre readers approach such challenges enthusiastically and drive a profitable segment of the book market: "I think about science fiction, for example. People are often dropped into a world where it takes a hundred pages to figure out what's going on."

Ultimately, the bookseller in him saw the best solution: "I've been selling books for 30 years and I still believe that you sell them one book at a time."--Robert Gray (column archives available at Fresh Eyes Now)

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