Ann Godoff obit

Ann Godoff Dies: Legendary Book Editor & Publisher Was 76

 

She was not on the list.

Ann Godoff, the founder, president and Editor-in-Chief of Penguin Press, whose stable of authors included E.L. Doctorow, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Michael Pollan, Tom Brokaw, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, William Styron and Alice Waters, died Tuesday in Albany, NY, Deadline has confirmed. She was 76.

Born on July 22, 1949, in Manhattan, Godoff founded The Penguin Press in 2003 with a mission “dedicated to publishing quality nonfiction and literary fiction … to publish ideas that matter, storytelling that lasts, and books that don’t just start conversations, but detonate them.”

It’s hard to deny Penguin Press’s impact on literature and even the broader culture. It has published five Pulitzer Prize winners (Ghost Wars, by Steve Coll, 2005; Lords of Finance, by Liaquat Ahamed, 2010; Washington, by Ron Chernow, 2011; George F. Kennan, by John Lewis Gaddis, 2012, and Barbarian Days by William Finnegan, 2016).

It is the current literary home of Thomas Pynchon, whose next novel, Shadow Ticket, it will publish in October. Pynchon’s Vineland was the inspiration for Oscar favorite One Battle After Another.

Mary Oliver, Werner Herzog, Gavin Newsom, Aziz Ansari, David Axelrod, Chuck Klosterman, Phil Jackson, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Al Gore, Carolyn Forche and Errol Morris.

Godoff wore many hats throughout her career and had responsibilities on both the business and creative sides of publishing — often simultaneously. She told C-SPAN2 in 2002 that, “The Editor-in-Chief role is the one I’m most comfortable with because it also involves the fostering of editorial talent. Being an editor is a job I love.”

Her talent was recognized by her peers.

“Ann influenced generations of editors and publishers by showing us, through her example, that you can champion works of cultural significance while still being commercially successful,” Jonathan Karp, a former Random House editor in chief and a former publisher, president and chief executive of Simon & Schuster is quoted as saying in the New York Times. “If there were a Hall of Fame for book publishing, Ann would be voted in on the first ballot.”

Ann Godoff first joined the editorial department of Simon & Schuster in 1980, and in 1987 became  Senior Editor at Atlantic Monthly Press; in two years she became Editor-in-Chief. In 1991, Ms. Godoff was appointed Executive Editor at Random House, where she would eventually be named Vice President and Editorial Director. In 1997 she became President, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of the Random House Trade Publishing Group and Executive Vice President of Random House, Inc.

Among the many bestsellers she helped find their way into print are John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Caleb Carr’s The Alienist.