An Independent Publisher Turns 100, featuring W. Drake McFeely (A Virtual FPUL event)
On February 13 at 3 p.m., the Friends of the Princeton University Library will be honored to welcome W. Drake McFeely, former chairman of W.W. Norton & Company, to speak in our Small Talk series.
McFeely is currently working on a centennial history of Norton, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2023. McFeely will speak with us about the extraordinary nature of the company – the oldest and largest independent publishing house in the United States wholly-owned by its employees.
The company’s distinguished literary contributions while under McFeely’s leadership are many—11 Pulitzer Prizes, nine National Book Awards, and many bestsellers including: “The Fifth Risk,” “The Undoing Project,” “Moneyball,” and “The Blind Side” by Michael Lewis, “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil deGrasse Tyson, “The Perfect Storm” by Sebastian Junger, and “Norse Mythology” by Neil Gaiman.
Join us to hear about this storied publisher’s history and McFeely’s reflections on the changes in publishing and the issues facing editors, publishers and writers today. Landon Jones, a longtime member of the Friends, an author, and a former editor at People, Life, Time, and Money magazines, will moderate the program.
Register here: https://princeton.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6NnZT99ASJyq5F_04sKZFw
Photo credit: Laura M. McFeely
- Date:
- Sunday, February 13, 2022
- Time:
- 3:00pm - 5:00pm
- Audience:
- Friends of Princeton University Library Member of the Public Princeton Alumni Princeton Faculty/Researcher Princeton Staff Princeton Student Student Friends of Princeton University Library
- Categories:
- Friends of the Princeton University Library Event
More about W. Drake McFeely
McFeely began his career at W.W. Norton in 1976 and became president in 1994. Since his appointment as president, Norton’s college department expanded from its traditional base in the humanities into the sciences and across the social sciences. Books such as “Earth: Portrait of A Planet” by Stephen Marshak and Thomas Gilbert et al.’s “General Chemistry” now bookend “The Norton Anthology of English Literature” and “The Enjoyment of Music.”
McFeely himself has edited a variety of authors including Nobel Prize–winners Joseph E. Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, as well as Fareed Zakaria, Seamus Heaney, Sean Wilentz, Steven Pinker, and Ben Bernanke. In 2004 he acquired the publishing rights to “The 9/11 Commission Report,” which hit #1 on a number of online bestseller lists within hours of its release.
He served on the board of Princeton University Press from 2002 to 2020, and as its Chairman and Executive Committee member from 2004-2018.
This event is part of the Friends of the Princeton University Library Small Talks Series held each month on a Sunday at 3 p.m.
View recordings of previous events.
Join the Friends of the Princeton University Library. Friends receive a newsletter, two issues of the Princeton University Library Chronicle, and are invited to participate in a variety of activities and events, including exhibition openings, lectures and talks, gala dinners, workshops on topics such as preservation, bookbinding, and print collecting.
To request disability-related accommodations for this event, please contact pulcomm@princeton.edu at least 3 working days in advance.