Publishers Weekly is reporting that, after 60 years in the publishing industry, Ann Harris is retiring. She has been with Bantam Dell for the last 20 years, and edited such iconic books as The Exorcist and The Thorn Birds.
Bantam Dell Deputy Publisher Nita Taublib announced the retirement in a staff memo, describing Harris as someone who “has not only shown an unerring eye for quality, but has picked and edited books that are among the most important published in recent memory. She is a legendary editor whose extraordinary legacy for readers will be the startling array of titles that she has given us.”
Harris had previously work for Rinehart & Company, Harper & Brothers, and Arbor House. She’s worked on both blockbusters and literary titles, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning geriatrics book Why Survive?