Cornerstone hails 'tremendous first half' at summer showcase

Cornerstone m.d. Susan Sandon paid tribute to the division’s “tremendous first half” as its summer showcase featured guests such as Michael Palin, Sebastian Faulks and astronaut Tim Peake.

Seven Cornerstone authors attended the event  on Tuesday evening (17th July) with their agents including Candice Fox whose Liar Liar is being published next week, Kate Williams and Lisa Jewell, as well as Katia Narain Phillips’ Rituals for the Everyday, which is out this autumn. Curtis Brown chief executive Jonny Geller also attended along with David Headley, m.d. of Goldsboro Books and founder of D H H Literary Agency. The event took place at Carousel London, in Marylebone, and featured an insight into the autumn lists of Cornerstone imprints Century, William Heinemann and Hutchinson.

Sandon said: “We have had a tremendous first half with such an array of bestsellers from Charlotte Dujardin’s memoir to the wonderful Educated, from the blockbusting President is Missing to the equally blockbusting Munich in paperback, and many more beside.”

She said that she wanted to particularly “welcome the booksellers and say a huge thank you to all your all-year support” and praised the diversity of the division’s list. 

“We publish books from across the entire range of the spectrum: literary gems, thrillers, debuts, humour, self-help and science: literally a kaleidoscope of genres and authors," she said.

"I have to say I am very proud to be heading up such a division of such brilliant publishers and publicists and marketers, and sales people. But I think that diversity is nowhere more evidenced than the range of authors we have here tonight.”

Cornerstone has enjoyed a number of high profile successes over recent months. The President is Missing was www.thebookseller.com/news/prh-unveils-oval-office-replica-waterloo-795806">launched at London Book Fair in April with a recreation of the White House in London Olympia featuring a surprise appearance from a Donald Trump look-alike. Meanwhile Tara Westover’s critically lauded memoir Educated was selected as Book of the Month by The Bookseller’s non-fiction previewer Caroline Sanderson.

Last month, the division emerged the winner of a 12-publisher auction, securing the “sensational” debut of US author Lara Prescott - it splashed a six-figure sum on We Were Never Here which is inspired by the writing of Doctor Zhivago while Knopf bought North American rights for £1.5m.