Frances Coady is a veteran British publisher. who started Vintage paperbacks in the UK before moving to New York as the publisher of

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullf ...

where she is now a literary agent at th
Aragi
agency.

Early life

Born in London, Frances Coady has degrees from the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

and the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

Career

Coady began her publishing career in 1982 in London at

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

where she published ''Self Help'' by Lorrie Moore, The Final Passage and

The European Tribe ''The European Tribe'' is the first book of essays by Caryl Phillips, published in 1987 (in the UK by Faber and Faber and in the US by Farrar, Straus & Giroux). Characterised by Andrea Lee in ''The New York Times'' as "part travelogue, part c ...

by Caryl Philips, and Edward Said’s The World, the Text, and the Critic and After the Last Sky. In 1987 she became editorial director of

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

and was featured in ''The Powers That Will Be - We choose the People Who Will Run Britain In the Nineties'' in ''the Sunday Times Magazine''. In 1989 she became the founding publisher of Vintage paperbacks“whose stunning success launched a thousand embarrassing moments in editorial conferences throughout Britain” according to ''The Independent''. She continued to edit and publish authors including Edward W Said( Culture & Imperialism); Salman Rushdie( The Moor’s Last Sigh) and John Pilger( A Secret Country). In 1993 Coady became the publisher of the newly created literary division of

Random House UK Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, and “one of the most powerful women in British publishing". She left Random House to relaunch

Granta Books ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

as a fully independent publishing house publishing in 1997. In 2000 Coady moved to New York to become the publisher of Picador USA an imprint of the Macmillan Group which she turned into a paperback house with bestsellers and award winning authors including Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay; Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses, Edmund De Waal’s

The Hare with Amber Eyes ''The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance'' (2010) is a family memoir by British ceramicist Edmund de Waal.

and Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose Novels. She also published Frances Coady Books within Henry Holt and

Farrar Straus & Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...

including– Naomi Klein’s

The Shock Doctrine ''The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'' is a 2007 book by the Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein. In the book, Klein argues that neoliberal free market policies (as advocated by the economist Milton Friedman) have ri ...

; Richard Powers'

Generosity Generosity (also called largess) is the virtue of being liberal in giving, often as gifts. Generosity is regarded as a virtue by various world religions and philosophies, and is often celebrated in cultural and religious ceremonies. Scientific ...

and; Andrew Sean Greer’s

The Confessions of Max Tivoli ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

. Vintage originals included Deborah Eisenberg's The Collected Stories and Esi Edugyan’s

Half Blood Blues ''Half-Blood Blues'' (styled without the hyphen in the UK edition) is a fiction novel by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan, and first published in June 2011 by Serpent’s Tail. The book's dual narrative centers around Sidney "Sid" Griffiths, a journe ...

. In September 2012 Coady was hired by

Scott Rudin Scott Rudin (born July 14, 1958) is an American film, television, and theatre producer. His films include the Academy Award-winning Best Picture '' No Country for Old Men,'' as well as '' Uncut Gems'', '' Lady Bird, Fences, The Girl with the Dr ...

and

Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall ...

IAC IAC may refer to: Medicine * IAC (chemotherapy), a chemotherapy regimen * Internal auditory canal Organizations * IAC (company), an American media company * India Against Corruption * Indigenous Advisory Council, an Australian government agency * ...

to found a new publishing house Brightline which became Atavist Books. Atavist Books launched in 2014 with Karen Russell's '' Sleep Donation'' As a literary agent at Aragi, Coady’s authors include-

Sharon Olds Sharon Olds (born November 12, 1942) is an American poet. Olds won the first San Francisco Poetry Center Award in 1980, the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award, and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.

;

Claudia Rankine Claudia Rankine (; born September 4, 1963) is an American poet, essayist, playwright and the editor of several anthologies. She is the author of five volumes of poetry, two plays and various essays. Her book of poetry, '' Citizen: An American L ...

;

Ocean Vuong Ocean Vuong (born , ; October 14, 1988) is a Vietnamese American poet, essayist, and novelist. Vuong is a recipient of the 2014 Ruth Lilly/Sargent Rosenberg fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, a 2016 Whiting Award, and the 2017 T.S. Eliot P ...

;

Michael Cunningham Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel '' The Hours'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is a senior lectur ...

, and

Rebecca Solnit Rebecca Solnit (born 1961) is an American writer. She has written on a variety of subjects, including feminism, the environment, politics, place, and art. Early life and education Solnit was born in 1961 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to a Jewish f ...

Personal life

She is married to the novelist Peter Carey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coady, Frances Publishers (people) from London Year of birth missing (living people) British expatriates in the United States 20th-century publishers (people) Alumni of the University of Essex Alumni of the University of Sussex 21st-century publishers (people) Women book publishers (people) 21st-century British businesspeople 20th-century British businesspeople 20th-century British businesswomen British company founders British women business executives Living people