IN DEPTH
Company Spotlight Levine Querido
American publisher Levine promises ‘beloved’ titles from his new independent list
After more than two decades publishing under an eponymous list at Scholastic, Arthur A Levine has launched his own list,
Levine Querido, in order to publish attractive books that he hopes will endure for generatiions of young readers
Caroline Carpenter @carolinec1988 A
merican publisher Arthur A Levine has launched the first titles from his new independent children’s publisher Levine Querido in the UK.
Levine founded Levine Querido last April aſter 23 years as the publisher of Scholastic Inc imprint Arthur A Levine Books. One of the driving forces that led him to branch out on his own was “a desire to set my own priorities”. He explains: “I think over the years, corporate publishing has become more and more sales and marketing and finance- led, so that everybody is literally siting around the table at the same time and making group decisions. I didn’t want to make group decisions. I feel there’s a strength to be had in individual decisions, so I wanted to try that out.” The name for the company is partly inspired by the
late Dutch publisher Emanuel Querido, who published political exiles from Nazi Germany in the 1930s before his death in the Sobibor extermination camp in 1943. Levine says: “He was very brave to do that. Back then, books were even more important as a way of disseminating information. I wanted to have the honour of spreading his name and keeping it alive.” He adds that “querido” also means “beloved” in Portuguese, and “that’s what I want my books to become, the beloved books of childhood”. Levine is partnering with the Dutch Querido publishing house on one of the two lists his new company is publishing under, Em Querido, which aims to find and translate authors and artists from around the world into English. Meanwhile, the publisher’s Arthur A Levine list seeks out artwork and writing that originates in the English language, with a distinct focus on building a platform for previously underrepresented voices. Both lists will consist of picture books, poetry, novels, non-fiction and graphic novels. Levine Querido’s distribution partner is fellow independent Chronicle Books, which is distributed in the UK and Europe by Abrams & Chronicle Books.
ARTHUR LEVINE HAS LAUNCHED THE LIST IN ORDER TO PUBLISH WITH MORE AUTONOMY
Text by Tom Tivnan
A broad church Levine’s ambition with Levine Querido is to “give the world a collection of extraordinary books that stand the test of time”. In addition, he wants those books to “come from a broad diversit of voices and talents”. He says: “I have a very deep belief that there is amazing untapped talent in underserved communities, and I want to help find it and make beautiful books.” His initial plan for
26 14th October 2020
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