Renowned Editor in Chief, Agent, and Former Literature Director of the National Endowment for the Arts to Focus on Backlist Acquisitions for Open Road’s Author Brands
(New York, NY—March 24, 2014)—Open Road Integrated Media, a global digital publishing company, announced today that Ira Silverberg, former Literature Director of the National Endowment for the Arts, will join the company as Strategic Advisor, Author Brands. Silverberg will focus on acquiring a wide range of authors and their backlist catalogs for Open Road to digitally publish and market. In less than four years, Open Road has already released more than five thousand titles. Silverberg starts on April 22 and will report to Publisher Tina Pohlman.
Before joining the NEA in 2011, Silverberg held numerous positions in publishing, including Editor in Chief of Grove Press and Publisher and Founding Coeditor of High Risk Books, an imprint of Serpent’s Tail. He was the owner of a public relations company focused on independent literary presses and not-for-profit literary institutions. Silverberg spent fifteen years as a literary agent and Foreign Rights Director at Donadio & Olson and Sterling Lord Literistic. Throughout his career as an agent, publisher, and editor, Silverberg has worked with authors such as Neil Strauss, Adam Haslett, Ishmael Beah, and Jacqueline Susann, and has helped reissue the works of many notable writers, including Nobel Prize winners Elfriede Jelinek and Kenzaburo Oe.
Jane Friedman, Cofounder and CEO of Open Road, said, “Ira’s broad range of experience has given him a deep understanding of all aspects of the publishing industry and he will make an incredible addition to Open Road.”
And Publisher Tina Pohlman added, “I have always admired Ira’s love of literature, his generosity of spirit, and his professional integrity. He cares about writers first and foremost, and brings a backlist savoir faire to Open Road that will be a great asset in our mission to preserve the legacy of the greats in the digital future.”
Silverberg said, “Joining Open Road allows me to get back to the very reason I went into publishing—to be a part of the process of getting great literature to readers. It’s great to be back in the fold, especially with my visionary friends Jane and Tina. I couldn’t think of a more natural fit. It’s as if it was destined to be.”
Silverberg has served on the boards of various organizations, including PEN American Center, the MFA in Creative Writing program at the New School, Bomb magazine, and others. He currently serves on the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee at the New York State Council on the Arts and as an adjunct faculty member in the MFA Writing Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Silverberg is a longtime advisor to the William S. Burroughs estate. Most recently, Silverberg was the recipient of the Publishing Triangle’s 2013 Leadership Award.
