Lennie Goodings (born 1953) is a Canadian-born publisher active in the United Kingdom. She is Chair of the UK British publishing house

Virago Press Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on Feminism, feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several Briti ...

. Her authors include

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

Sandi Toksvig Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (; ; born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written ...

Sarah Dunant Sarah Dunant (born 8 August 1950) is a British novelist, journalist, broadcaster, and critic. She is married with two daughters, and lives in London and Florence. Early life Dunant was born in 1950 and raised in London. She is the daughter of Da ...

Sarah Waters Sarah Ann Waters (born 21 July 1966) is a Welsh novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as ''Tipping the Velvet'' and '' Fingersmith''. Life and education Early life Sara ...

Naomi Wolf Naomi Rebekah Wolf (born November 12, 1962) is an American feminist author, journalist and conspiracy theorist. Following her first book '' The Beauty Myth'' (1991), she became a leading spokeswoman of what has been described as the third wave ...

Linda Grant Linda Grant (born 15 February 1951) is an English novelist and journalist. Early life Linda Grant was born in Liverpool. She was the oldest child of Benny Ginsberg, a businessman who made and sold hairdressing products, and Rose Haft; both p ...

Natasha Walter Natasha Walter (born 20 January 1967) is a British feminist writer and human rights activist. She is the author of a novel, ''A Quiet Life'' (2016), two works of feminist non-fiction: ''Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism'' (2010, Virago) and '' ...

Lyndall Gordon Lyndall Gordon (born 4 November 1941) is a British-based biographical and former academic writer, known for her literary biographies. She is a senior research fellow at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Life Born in Cape Town, she had her undergraduat ...

Shirley Hazzard Shirley Hazzard (30 January 1931 – 12 December 2016) was an Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She was born in Australia and also held U.S. citizenship. Hazzard's 1970 novel ''The Bay of Noon'' was shortlisted f ...

Joan Bakewell Joan Dawson Bakewell, Baroness Bakewell, ('' née'' Rowlands; born 16 April 1933), is an English journalist, television presenter and Labour Party peer. Baroness Bakewell is president of Birkbeck, University of London; she is also an auth ...

Shirley Williams Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, (' Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in the Labour cabinet from ...

Rachel Seiffert Rachel Seiffert (born 1971) is a British novelist and short story writer. Biography She was born in 1971 in Oxford to German and Australian parents, and was brought up bilingually. She lives in London. Publications and awards Seiffert has p ...

and

Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and ...

Early life

Lennie Goodings was born in

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the state of New York (state), New York converge. It is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Unit ...

, Canada, in 1953. Her father was a civil engineer and her mother, a nurse; she has four younger siblings. When she was 20, she was on a fatal raft trip on the rapids of the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

that was the basis of a story in Margaret Atwood's collection '' Bluebeard's Egg''. At Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario, Goodings studied Film and English Literature, arriving in London in 1977. She is married with two (now adult) children, Amy and Zachary.

Career

Goodings has worked for

since 1978, through all its ownership changes. Virago was founded in 1973 by

Carmen Callil Dame Carmen Thérèse Callil, (15 July 1938 – 17 October 2022) was an Australian publisher, writer and critic who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom. She founded Virago Press in 1973 and received the Benson Medal from the Royal ...

, who was convinced an imprint devoted to women's writing, lives and concerns, could be both financially viable and an inspiration. Virago is now an imprint at

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily D ...

, owned by

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachett ...

. Beginning as publicist, Goodings continued to hold this position when the company became part of the British group Chatto, Virago, Bodley Head and Cape until it was sold to

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, USA. She was part of Virago's management-buy-out team in 1987, becoming the Publishing Director in 1992. Goodings remained as Publisher and Editorial Director when, after eight years of independence, the company was sold to

in 1995. She became Virago Chair in 2017 and appointed Sarah Savitt as Publisher. In 2006, Virago and Little, Brown became part of The Hachette Book Group. She has written a children's book ''When I Grow Up''. Her memoir ''A Bite of the Apple: Behind the Scenes at Virago Press'' was published in February 2020 by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. A trustee of

English PEN Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associati ...

, she is a board member of the charity

Poet in the City Poet in the City brings poetry to life beyond books, digging out classic and contemporary gems and immersing audiences in the worlds of poets through events, commissions and participation. Poet in the City is a prominent London-based arts org ...

Awards and honours

Goodings received the Bookseller's Industry Award: Editor and Imprint of the Year in 2010 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Queen's University in Canada in 2004 and A Lifetime's Achievement at WOW (Women of the World Festival) in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodings, Lennie 1953 births Living people English publishers (people) British writers People from Cornwall, Ontario Queen's University at Kingston alumni Women book publishers (people)