Rizzoli Says Buongiorno to Fiction
by Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 9/4/2006
Rizzoli Publishing may be best known for its sumptuous art books, but as production costs rise and the demand for such pricey books diminishes, the house has begun exploring different publishing channels by releasing books that cost less to produce and have wider sales potential. Encouraged by its success in publishing war correspondent Oriana Fallaci's nonfiction works The Force of Reason(2006) and The Rage and the Pride(2002), Rizzoli is starting a new imprint for fiction and narrative nonfiction.
Rizzoli Ex Libris won't launch formally until next spring, but the house is publishing a few books under the imprint as early as this fall—including its first-ever fiction title. Rizzoli publicity director Pam Sommers said the imprint will draw on titles from RCS Libri in Italy, whose European imprints include Rizzoli, Flammarion and Bompiani. "The Ex Libris list will reflect interest in the U.S. market for titles generated by RCS Libri," Sommers said. As of now, Rizzoli Ex Libris doesn't have a set number of titles for each season. "It will be a slow ramp-up," said Sommers.
One of Rizzoli Ex Libris's debut titles will be Andrea de Carlo's 14th novel, Windshift. The first novel Rizzoli has ever published, Windshift has sold more than five million copies in Italy, where it was published as Giro di ventoby Bompiani. While two of de Carlo's previous books have been published in English in the U.S. by Harcourt, Rizzoli's English-language edition of Windshift is unique in that it was translated entirely by the author, who was discovered by Italo Calvino and has worked with Federico Fellini.
The imprint's fall 2006 list will also include Slow Food Revolution: A New Culture for Dining and Living by Carlo Petrini and Gigi Padovani, which Rizzoli published in Italy in 2005. In spring 2007, Rizzoli Ex Libris will bring out the follow-up, Slow Food Nation.
