Eleanor Friede (d. 2008) was an American book editor and literary agent, best known for bringing the 1970 novella '' Jonathan Livingston Seagull'' to publication. Friede was born Eleanor Kask in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, and grew up in Valley Stream. She graduated with honors from

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...

and shortly thereafter went to work for World Publishing in publicity and marketing. She married Donald Friede, a World Publishing editor, in 1951. He died in 1965. Friede was working as a marketing director at Macmillan in 1968 when company president Jeremiah Kaplan convinced her to become an editor. A year later she persuaded Macmillan to buy '' Jonathan Livingston Seagull'', a fable about a seagull who breaks from his flock in search of freedom. The novella by

Richard Bach Richard David Bach (born June 23, 1936) is an American writer. He has written numerous flight-related works of fiction and non-fiction. His works include '' Jonathan Livingston Seagull'' (1970) and '' Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Mes ...

sold more than three million copies in hardcover. In 1974, Friede received her own imprint at

Delacorte Press Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...

. Following Delacorte's purchase by Doubleday in the early 1980s she launched Eleanor Friede Books, a literary agency. One of the books published under the Delacorte Press was ''Somewhere a Cat is Waiting'', a 1976 collection of three of the author Derek Tangye's books, whose works were affectionately referred to as ''The Minack Chronicles''. Eleanor Friede died July 14, 2008, at the age of 78.

External links

''The New York Times'' obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friede, Eleanor 2008 deaths American book editors American literary agents Year of birth missing People from Rochester, New York Hofstra University alumni