Lennie Goodings

Lennie Goodings (born 1953) is a Canadian-born publisher active in the United Kingdom. She is Chair of the UK British publishing house Virago Press.

Her authors include Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou,[1] Sandi Toksvig, Sarah Dunant, Sarah Waters, Naomi Wolf, Linda Grant, Natasha Walter, Lyndall Gordon, Shirley Hazzard,[2] Joan Bakewell, Shirley Williams, Rachel Seiffert and Marilynne Robinson.[3]

Early life

Lennie Goodings was born in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, in 1953.[4] The oldest of five, her father is a civil engineer and her mother, a nurse.[5] She was a passenger on a fatal raft trip through the whirlpool rapids below the Falls and many years later Margaret Atwood told the story in her collection Bluebeard's Egg.[4]

At Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario, Goodings studied Film and English Literature, arriving in London in 1977. She is married with two (now adult) children, Amy and Zachary.[4]

Career

Goodings has worked for Virago Press since 1978,[6] through all its ownership changes. Virago was founded in 1973 by Carmen Callil, who was convinced an imprint devoted to women’s writing, lives and concerns, could be both financially viable and an inspiration. Virago is now an imprint at Little, Brown owned by Hachette.[3]

Beginning as publicist,[7] Goodings continued to hold this position when the company became part of the British group Chatto, Virago, Bodley Head and Cape until it was sold to Random House, USA. She was part of Virago’s management-buy-out team in 1987, becoming the Publishing Director in 1992. Goodings remained as Publisher and Editorial Director when, after eight years of independence, the company was sold to Little, Brown in 1995. She became Virago Chair in 2017 and appointed Sarah Savitt as Publisher.[8] In 2006, Virago and Little, Brown became part of The Hachette Book Group.[9]

Goodings received the Bookseller’s Industry Award: Editor and Imprint of the Year in 2010 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Queen's University in Canada in 2004[10] and A Lifetime’s Achievement at WOW (Women of the World Festival) in 2018.[11] A trustee of English PEN, she is now a board member of the charity Poet in the City.[12]

She has written a children’s book When I Grow Up.[13] Her memoir A Bite of the Apple: Behind the Scenes at Virago Press was published in February 2020 by Oxford University Press.[6][14]

gollark: One particular fiction site does *not*, due to bee (they have some email-based subscription system).
gollark: They work *and basically everything supports it*.
gollark: Perhaps, but they work still.
gollark: Why?
gollark: However:- I sometimes don't check it because of being very easily distracted- One site is bad and doesn't

References
  1. Goodings, Lennie (29 May 2014). "My hero: Maya Angelou by her publisher Lennie Goodings". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  2. Eyre, Charlotte (14 December 2016). "Australian author Shirley Hazzard dies". The Bookseller. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  3. Onwuemezi, Natasha (22 January 2018). "Lennie Goodings signs deal for The Idealistic Publisher". The Bookseller. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  4. Bostridge, Mark (2003-05-18). "The apple bites back". The Independent. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  5. Rustin, Susanna (2013-07-20). "Lennie Goodings: 'Virago survived because it's a brand with a philosophy'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  6. "lennie goodings". PRIMADONNA. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  7. Goodings, Lennie (2018-01-09). "20 years ago, the word 'vagina' shocked readers - and we still need its power today". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  8. Wood, Heloise (2017-05-31). "Goodings steps back from Virago as Savitt takes over | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  9. Goodings, Lennie (2016-10-31). "Feminism, pornography and lots of crying in the loos: Lennie Goodings reflects on 43 years of Virago". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  10. "Honorary Degree Recipients | University Registrar". www.queensu.ca. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  11. Desk, BWW News (2018-03-07). "Winners Of The WOW Women In Creative Industries Awards Announced". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  12. "Poet In The City". Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  13. "When You Grow Up". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  14. Bidisha (2020-02-23). "A Bite of the Apple by Lennie Goodings – essential literary memoir". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
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