Veteran journalist Dana Canedy has been named executive vice president and publisher at Simon & Schuster’s namesake imprint. The company made the announcement Monday, according to The New York Times.
Canedy, 55, is first Black person and third woman to hold the title at one of the nation’s largest book publishers. Prior to this, she worked at The New York Times for over 20 as a reporter, then senior editor before becoming the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes in 2017.
Under her watch, there has been a noticeable uptick in the diversity of Pulitzer award recipients (i.e. Kendrick Lamar’s ‘DAMN.” album). She is also a Pulitzer winner herself, having been a member of an award-winning team in 2001, the Times reported.
As for her direct experience in publishing, Canedy is the author of “A Journal for Jordan,” her late partner First Sgt. Charles M. King’s memoir, which he wrote to their son in case he didn’t make it home from the Iraq war. He died in combat in 2006, the Times reported.
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Slated to begin her new role July 27, Canedy believes her journalistic background will serve her will in the position.
““The ultimate goal of the job is to champion the work of our amazing authors to bring in new authors, and to commission books that I and my team think are important. And basically, when you boil all that down, that means applying news judgment,” Canedy told the Times.
She added the offer was not born out of pressure on companies by the current social climate. Jonathan Karp, the current CEO of Simon & Schuster, offered her a job at the company over two years ago when he was publisher, Canedy said.
““Jon should get credit for the fact that in an era of racial reckoning, when suddenly everybody is looking for people of color and women to add to their boards and to bring in to their companies — he started talking to me two years ago,” Canedy said. “That’s the way you want to go into a company. I wouldn’t be taking this job if I thought he just wanted a Black publisher.”
Karp believes Canedy is definitely up to the task.
“I think the first thing you have to be able to do is to attract authors, to cultivate authors and to champion authors,” Karp said. “I wanted somebody who was going to be a magnet for the best talent.”
