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| Arthur A. Levine | |
Arthur A. Levine, the publisher and editor responsible for introducing Harry Potter to the U.S. and who left Scholastic last month, has launched a new publishing company called Levine Querido. The company, which Levine has created in partnership with the Dutch publisher Querido, will publish two lists.
The first, called the Arthur A. Levine List, will "continue the legacy of Levine's imprint at Scholastic," with a focus on publishing the writing and artwork of authors and creators from underrepresented backgrounds, including people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, indigenous artists and writers, creators with disabilities and more. Levine plans to publish around 20 books per year on this list.
The second list, called Em Querido, will focus on translating a selection of Querido titles into English. The company plans to publish five books in this list during its first year and eventually grow to 10 titles per year.
"I'm starting this company with enormous optimism about the importance and potential for making outstanding books in an independent environment," said Levine. "We can give something of enormous value to children. And to have an ally in Querido, for whom I have such profound admiration, is a great blessing."
Querido Publishers is named for Emanuel Querido, a Dutch Jew of Portuguese descent who owned a bookstore and publishing house in the Netherlands before World War II. In 1933, after the Nazis barred Jewish writers and other dissidents from publishing in Germany, Querido published their work in the Netherlands. But after the Netherlands fell to the Nazis, he was captured and later died in the Sobibor concentration camp. In 1945, publishing colleagues revived Querido's publishing house. Today it is owned by Singel Publishers.
Paulien Loerts, director of Singel Publishers, commented: "For many reasons we are extremely thrilled by this cooperation: because many more of the children's books by our authors will appear in English, because we look forward to working together with Arthur whom we know as one of the best American publishers for children's books and of course for the sake of our history."