Barry Cunningham (publisher)

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Barry Cunningham is a British children's book - publisher . He became known through the worldwide success of the author Joanne K. Rowling, who he discovered, with her series of novels about the sorcerer's apprentice Harry Potter .

Life

Barry Cunningham studied English at the University of Cambridge from 1972 to 1975 . After graduating, he started at Penguin Books in 1977 , where he worked in marketing for the children's book imprint Puffin Books and was promoted to marketing director and board member. Among other things, he came together so closely with successful authors such as Roald Dahl and Spike Milligan and was responsible for the new edition of the works of Beatrix Potter .

In 1988 he switched to the Random House publishing group , but left it again after four years to build up a children's book division for Bloomsbury Publishing (from January 1996 Childrens Editorial Director). During this time Joanne K. Rowling's agent Little sent him the first volume of her series of novels, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (title of the German edition: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ), which had previously been published by several publishers because of its length and complexity had been rejected. Cunningham, who was putting together a portfolio of fantasy stories by young authors, made a decisive contribution through his recommendation to the publisher signing the volume in 1997 despite concerns, starting with a first edition of 500 copies and paying Rowling £ 1,500 in advance. Cunningham was won over by the enthusiasm of his then eight-year-old daughter about the book. Cunningham also commissioned cover illustrator Thomas Taylor and gave him guidelines for the design. Often told as an anecdote, Cunningham's warning to Rowling at the time was that the market was difficult and that children's books alone could never make enough money to make a living.

At the height of the huge success of the Potter series, Cunningham left Bloomsbury in January 1999 and founded their own children's book publisher, The Chicken House , with Rachel Hickman in 2000 . The books by the German writer Cornelia Funke with a circulation of several million copies, as well as several “ New York Times bestsellers”, are among the publisher's greatest market successes to date . The authors that Cunningham publishes, some of whom only recently discovered and promoted, also include Kevin Brooks , Andreas Steinhöfel , Kerstin Gier , Kirsten Boie , Emily Diamand , Zoran Drvenkar , Roderick Gordon and others.

In 2005 Cunningham sold his publishing house to the world's largest children's book publisher, the American Scholastic Corporation , which owns the rights to the Harry Potter series in the United States. However, Cunningham is still the publisher and managing director of the surviving imprint . In 2008 The Chicken House founded the joint venture Chicken House Germany together with the German Carlsen Verlag , which belongs to the Swedish Bonnier group and owns the license rights to the Harry Potter series in Germany . In 2007, The Chicken House and the Times launched a writing competition for authors of books for children and young people. In 2010 , Chicken House Germany launched a similar competition to attract young talent in cooperation with the German FAZ (“ The Golden Pick ”).

Barry Cunningham lives and works in Blackford , Somerset . He is married and has six children. In November 2010 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the officer level for his services to the publishing industry.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Profile on LinkedIn
  2. ↑ a b About Chicken House. Barry Cunningham. In: carlsen.de. CARLSEN Verlag GmbH, accessed on April 7, 2017 : "After his English exam in Cambridge, Barry Cunningham began his career at Penguin Books in 1977."
  3. ↑ Jayne Ashley Glover: The harry Potter Phenomenon ( Memento from January 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Master Thesis in English Literature at Rhodes University, 2003 (PDF; 2.8 MB)
  4. ↑ In the German-speaking world, other publishers have in some cases acquired the license rights for books by these authors.
  5. ↑ Youth book discoverer Barry Cunningham: It is this sense of wonder , FAZ, November 2, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Cunningham, Barry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British publisher
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century