In his talk “A Life in Books: A Publisher’s Thoughts on the Past and Future of the Book” David Kent, CEO of HarperCollins Canada, will reflect on his 40 years in the publishing industry—how publishing has changed, what has remained the same, and where it may be headed.
This event will be held Monday, March 10, at 8 p.m. in the Batza Room of Goucher College’s Athenaeum. Tickets are free and can be reserved at goucher.edu/tickets or by calling 410-337-6333.
Kent has held numerous top executive positions in Canada and the United States, including serving for 10 years as president and publisher of Random House of Canada, president of Doubleday Canada (now part of Random House), as well as president and CEO of William Collins & Sons, Canada Ltd. (now HarperCollins). He is only company president to have received the Canadian Booksellers’ Association Publisher of the Year award three times in six years (at two different publishing companies).
Before emigrating to Canada, Kent worked for Simon & Schuster in New York for nine years, holding various positions within the company. He rose to the position of vice-president, marketing and sales, by age 31 and held that position until 1984, when he joined General Publishing as a vice-president. Kent sold books at both university and independent bookstores for six years before entering book publishing.
This event is in honor of Kent’s mother, Renee Grey Kaufman (Kent) ’47, and sponsored by the President’s Office. It celebrates Goucher’s new interdisciplinary Book Studies Program. More information about the program can be found at goucher.edu/academics/book-studies.