Publishing Executive Speaks to English Honors Classes

Pat Johnson, executive vice president of publishing at Alfred A. Knopf and aunt of Sarah Loveys ’10, visited with English 3H students this week. She traveled from Manhattan to enjoy lunch with the 40 juniors who recently studied Toni Morrison’s Beloved in Carolyn Conforti’s and Penn Graves’s classes. Penn reported, “Pat shared information not only about the life and work of Toni Morrison, but also about her own career in the publishing industry. Students were excited to get some inside scoop on the noble laureate Morrison – that she chose the color of collard greens for one of her novels and that she started off in the publishing industry herself.”

“Afterwards, Pat spoke to individual students with interests in writing,” Penn added, “She also provided students with copies of Morrison’s latest novel, A Mercy. Although Pat admits that she uses her Sony Electronic Reader to check out manuscripts, she thinks that books – hard-back covers and all – are here to stay.”

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Posted 2/23/09

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