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Christopher MacLehose

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Christopher MacLehose
CBE, Hon. FRSL
Born
Christopher Colin MacLehose

(1940-07-12) 12 July 1940 (age 84)
Edinburgh, Scotland
EducationShrewsbury School;
Worcester College, Oxford University
OccupationPublisher
Known forFounder of MacLehose Press;
Mountain Leopard Press;
Open Borders Press
AwardsBenson Medal (2016)

Christopher Colin MacLehose CBE,[1] Hon. FRSL (born 12 July 1940)[2][3] is a British publisher notable as publisher of Harvill Press (from 1984 to 2004),[4][5][6] where his successes included bringing out the stories of Raymond Carver and Richard Ford for the first time in Britain.[7] Having published works translated from more than 34 languages,[8] MacLehose has been referred to as "the champion of translated fiction"[9] and as "British publishing's doyen of literature in translation".[10] He is generally credited with introducing to an English-speaking readership the best-selling Swedish author Stieg Larsson[11][12][13][14] and other prize-winning authors, among them Sergio De La Pava, who has described MacLehose as "an outsize figure literally and figuratively – that's an individual who has devoted his life to literature".[15]

From 2008 to 2020, he was the publisher of MacLehose Press, an imprint of Quercus Books, and in 2021 founded Mountain Leopard Press,[16] an imprint of the Welbeck Publishing Group.[17] The Mountain Lion list was sold to Hachette in December 2022. In 2024, it was announced that MacLehose was to launch Open Borders Press, as the first imprint of Orenda Books.[18]

Early life

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Christopher MacLehose was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 12 July 1940 to Alexander MacLehose and Elizabeth Hope MacLehose (née Bushell).[2] His family was involved with the book trade as printers, booksellers and publishers, and he has described them as "seven generations, all of them second sons".[3] He was educated at Shrewsbury School (1953–58),[19] and read history at Worcester College, Oxford University.[20]

Career

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MacLehose took a job at the Glasgow Herald, where he hoped to stay for six months to gain the experience that would enable him to work for the recently founded Independent Television News; however, his ambitions changed direction after a few weeks: "I realised ... I wanted to work with language and words," MacLehose said in a 2012 interview.[3] So he worked in the editorial office of the family printing factory by day, while freelancing by night for The Herald writing reviews and obituaries.[3] Eventually, he was offered employment as literary editor of The Scotsman, following which he moved in 1967 to London and went into book publishing, initially as an editor at the Cresset Press (part of the Barrie Group), with P. G. Wodehouse among his authors,[3][9] as well as George MacDonald Fraser of Flashman fame, who had been the features editor of the Glasgow Herald when MacLehose was there.[21] MacLehose subsequently became editorial director of Chatto & Windus, and then editor-in-chief of William Collins.[22][23]

In 1984, MacLehose took charge of the Harvill imprint, of which he was publisher for the next 20 years, with a well respected list that specialised in translated works and included such titles as Boris Pasternak's Dr Zhivago, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard, Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and Peter Høeg's Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow.[9] In 1995, MacLehose led a management buy-out of Harvill and for the following seven years characterised the company as "a bridge across cultures",[24] counting among his authors Richard Ford, Raymond Carver, W. G. Sebald, José Saramago, Georges Perec, Claudio Magris and P. O. Enquist.[9][25] In 2002, the company was bought by Random House[26][27] and two years later MacLehose left.[9][28]

He then set up the MacLehose Press, whose motto is "Read the World",[29] as "an independently minded imprint" of Quercus Books (itself founded in 2004).[28][30][31] The first titles were published in January 2008,[32] and among these was the best-selling psychological thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Swedish author Stieg Larsson.[33] Other international authors published by MacLehose Press include Bernardo Atxaga,[34] Dulce Maria Cardoso,[35] Philippe Claudel,[36] Otto de Kat, Maylis de Kerangal, Virginie Despentes, Joël Dicker,[37][38] Sophie Divry, Per Olov Enquist, Roy Jacobsen, Jaan Kross, Andrey Kurkov, David Lagercrantz, Pierre Lemaitre, Élmer Mendoza, Patrick Modiano, Marie NDiaye, Daniel Pennac, Lydie Salvayre, Żanna Słoniowska, and Valerio Varesi.[39][40] On 30 October 2020, MacLehose Press announced that MacLehose had chosen to leave the imprint. Associate publisher Katharina Bielenberg took over as publisher.[41][42]

In March 2021, it was announced that MacLehose would be leading a new imprint at the Welbeck Publishing Group called Mountain Leopard Press, with a focus on literary work and translated literature,[16][43] the launch title being Evelio Rosero's Stranger to the Moon, translated by Victor Meadowcroft and Anne McLean.[44] In December 2022 the Mountain Leopard list was sold by Welback to Hachette.[45]

In January 2024, it was announced that MacLehose would be launching Open Borders Press, the first imprint of Orenda Books, with Andrey Kurkov's Our Daily War as the imprint's first title.[45]

With "a reputation as a master at finding foreign fiction by writers such as Henning Mankell and Haruki Murakami and turning them into English language hits",[46] MacLehose has said: "When I first came into publishing, there was André Deutsch, Fredric Warburg, Ernest Hecht, Manya Harari, George Weidenfeld – a generation of multilingual people who came to England bringing the assumption that books that had to be translated were no different.... You simply published the best you could find and if you had to translate them, you just got on with it."[47]

Awards and honours

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In 2006, MacLehose received the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award for International Publishing.[48][49]

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the publishing industry in the 2011 New Year Honours.[50][51]

In 2016, MacLehose was awarded the Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature (RSL).[52] He was elected an honorary Fellow of the RSL in 2021.[53][54]

MacLehose received Estonia's Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, IV Class, in 2023.[55][56]

References

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  1. ^ "Honours List: Order of the British Empire, CBE" Archived 26 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, 31 December 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Maclehose, Christopher Colin, (born 12 July 1940), Publisher, MacLehose Press, since 2006". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2012. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U255644. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e Nicholas Wroe, "Christopher MacLehose: A life in publishing" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 28 December 2012.
  4. ^ "Darja Marinšek presents Christopher MacLehose, MacLehose Press" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Frankfurter Buchmesse, 2016.
  5. ^ Christopher MacLehose profile Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine at London Book Fair.
  6. ^ Christopher MacLehose, "A Publisher’s Vision", EnterText 4.3 Supplement, Brunel University London. Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ^ Sebastian Faulks, "My week" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Observer, 12 April 2009.
  8. ^ "MacLehose Press Publishing Programme" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Creative Europe Desk UK.
  9. ^ a b c d e Anthony Gardner, "Christopher MacLehose: The champion of translated fiction who struck it rich with Stieg Larsson" Archived 25 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, 2010.
  10. ^ The Literator, "Cover Stories: Christopher MacLehose" Archived 26 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, 28 September 2006.
  11. ^ Joshua Melvin, "French crime fiction set to eclipse Scandi-noir" Archived 27 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, AFP–The Local, 20 February 2014.
  12. ^ Helen Rowe, "After ScandiNoir, French are new crime fiction stars" Archived 27 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, DAWN, 24 February 2014.
  13. ^ Gaby Wood, "How Karl Ove Knausgaard and Elena Ferrante won us over" Archived 22 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Daily Telegraph, 28 February 2016.
  14. ^ Henry Williams, "Old is the new young, which is great news for idlers like me" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Spectator, 3 August 2016.
  15. ^ Susanna Rustin, "Sergio De La Pava: 'My book's not perfect, but it's what I set out to do. I wanted it to have a propulsive, angry core'" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 27 June 2014.
  16. ^ a b Heloise Wood (23 March 2021). "Christopher MacLehose to lead new imprint at Welbeck". The Bookseller. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  17. ^ "World-Leading Publisher | Welbeck Publishing Group". www.welbeckpublishing.com. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  18. ^ Cole Sullivan (5 February 2024). "Christopher MacLehose to launch Open Borders Press at Orenda Books". Orenda Books. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  19. ^ The Salopian, Issue 148, Summer 2011, p. 41.
  20. ^ "MacLehose, Christopher Colin" Archived 30 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Who's Who & Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  21. ^ Christopher MacLehose, "The derring-do that created Flashman" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Spectator, 24 May 2014.
  22. ^ Hrvoje Bozicevic, "The life and death of Harvill Press: Save the Leopard!" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Literature & Translation, UNESCO, 17 November 2004.
  23. ^ Lucinda Byatt, "At two ends of the publishing continuum: Harvill Secker's celebrates its (cumulative) centenary and Vagabond Voices", A World of Words, 1 October 2009. Archived 6 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine.
  24. ^ Andrew Franklin, "From Small Beginnings" Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, 11 May 1996.
  25. ^ Baret Magariani, "Patrician hauteur. Interview – Christopher MacLehose" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, New Statesman, 26 February 1999.
  26. ^ "Harvill press joins The Random House Group" Archived 28 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, PR Newswire.
  27. ^ Hilary Macaskill, "Adapting to acquisition", The Bookseller, 13 August 2003.
  28. ^ a b Michael Thwaite, "MacLehose joins with Quercus" Archived 28 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Ready Steady Book, 21 September 2006.
  29. ^ Sam Leith, "Leith on language: Found in translation" Archived 31 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Prospect, 16 March 2017 (April issue).
  30. ^ "ABOUT MACLEHOSE PRESS". MacLehose Press. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  31. ^ "About us" Archived 28 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Quercus.
  32. ^ Joshua Farrington, "MacLehose Press celebrates fifth anniversary", The Bookseller, 21 December 2012. Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  33. ^ "What publishers can do when a best-selling author dies" Archived 10 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 23 December 2013.
  34. ^ "A Basque writer contemplates America" Archived 25 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Economist, 10 August 2017.
  35. ^ "#RivetingReviews: Rosie Goldsmith reviews THE RETURN by Dulce Maria Cardoso", European Literature Network, 15 September 2017. Archived 21 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine.
  36. ^ Boyd Tonkin, "Philippe Claudel wins Independent Foreign Fiction Prize" Archived 26 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, 13 May 2010.
  37. ^ Liz Bury, "Dan Brown-trumping French bestseller due in English next year", The Guardian, 6 December 2013. Archived 25 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  38. ^ Katherine Cowdrey, "'Harry Quebert' companion novel to MacLehose", The Bookseller, 19 July 2016. Archived 25 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  39. ^ Ian Thomson, "Modern Italy’s heart of darkness" Archived 26 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Spectator, 26 March 2016.
  40. ^ "Books" Archived 25 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, MacLehose Press.
  41. ^ Katherine Cowdrey (30 October 2020). "Christopher MacLehose steps back from MacLehose Press after 13 years | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  42. ^ Erin Somers (30 October 2020). "People, Etc". Publishers Lunch. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  43. ^ Porter Anderson (23 March 2021). "London's Welbeck Launches a New Imprint with Christopher MacLehose". Publishing Perspectives.
  44. ^ John Self, "Reinvention and rediscoveries", The Critic, June 2022.
  45. ^ a b "News & Notes | A great publisher revives". PN Review 276. March–April 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  46. ^ Nick Clark, "The publishing house that Stieg Larsson built", The Independent, 5 August 2010. Archived 19 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  47. ^ Andrew Jack, "Translators: Publishing’s unsung heroes at work", Financial Times, 6 October 2015. Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  48. ^ "Lifetime Achievement Award" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Trilogy, 12 January 2005.
  49. ^ Lifetime Achievement Award, London Book Fair.
  50. ^ "New Year Honours—United Kingdom" Archived 7 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The London Gazette, 31 December 2010, Supplement No. 1, p. 8.
  51. ^ Graeme Neill, "Weidenfeld and MacLehose lauded in New Year's Honours list", The Bookseller, 4 January 2011. Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  52. ^ "The Benson Medal", The Royal Society of Literature. Archived 21 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  53. ^ "RSL announces 44 new Fellows and Honorary Fellows". The Royal Society of Literature. 6 July 2021. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  54. ^ "Christopher MacLehose", RSL Fellows, The Royal Society of Literature.
  55. ^ "Presidendilt saavad teenetemärgi ka kümned kultuuritegelased". ERR Uudised. 6 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  56. ^ "MacLehose honoured". BookBrunch. 20 April 2023.
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