Obituaries: Esther Mitgang; Madeleine L’Engle

-- Publishers Weekly, 9/7/2007 7:30:00 AM

Esther Mitgang, book editor, designer, packager and independent publisher, whose career with major publishers spanned 30 years, died on August 31 at her home in San Francisco. Mitgang, a Bay Area resident for 20 years, was editor and publisher of a number of prominent photographers and personalities, including Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. A native New Yorker, Mitgang established a San Francisco-based independent publishing company, Fly Productions, serving as its editor-in-chief. Under that imprint, she designed and produced some 50 books in the fields of literature, poetry, art and cooking with books published  by Viking Studio Books, Crown, Clarkson Potter, Harry Abrams, Hearst and Chronicle Books. Most recently, she did freelance editing for Chronicle and Red Wheel Weiser. 

Prior to moving to San Francisco, Mitgang was editorial director of Harmony Books, having previously held production, art and editorial positions at Avon Books, Crown Publishers and Stonehill. Her father, Herbert Mitgang, is an author and retired member of The New York Times editorial board. He had also served on The Times as daily book critic and publishing correspondent, and was a president of the Authors Guild

A memorial will be held on Tuesday, September 18 at 4:00 pm at the Century Association, 7 West 43rd Street, New York City.

Children's book author Madeleine L’Engle died on Thursday, September 6, in Litchfield, Conn. She was 88.

Over the course of six decades, L’Engle authored over 60 books for adults and children, which often melded elements of science, religion and fantasy and have been treasured by generations of readers.

L’Engle published several novels before her best-known work, A Wrinkle in Time, which won the 1963 Newbery Award. But it was that book and its sequels about the Murry family that earned her widespread acclaim, along with another series that began with her 1960 book, Meet the Austins. Holtzbrinck’s Square Fish imprint reissued two new editions of the Time Quintet, A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters and An Acceptable Time this past spring. A forthcoming young adult book from L’Engle, The Joys of Love, is scheduled for spring 2008 publication, from L’Engle’s longtime publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

L’Engle was born on November 29, 1918 in New York City. She attended Smith College, and went on to marry actor Hugh Franklin. She volunteered as a librarian and served as a writer-in-residence for many years at New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Along with her husband, she founded the Crosswicks Foundation, Ltd., which has given money to community and arts organizations in New York and Connecticut for over 20 years. She is survived by two daughters, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

.