Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

s, and

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

s. As of 1993, the publisher has been a division of Macmillan, whose parent company is the German publishing conglomerate

Holtzbrinck Publishing Group Holtzbrinck Publishing Group () is a Privately held company, privately held German company headquartered in Stuttgart, that Holding company, owns publishing companies worldwide. Through Macmillan Publishers, it is one of the Big Five English-lan ...

Founding

Farrar, Straus, and Company was founded in 1945 by Roger W. Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. The first book was ''Yank: The G.I. Story of the War'', a compilation of articles that appeared in '' Yank, the Army Weekly'', then ''There Were Two Pirates'', a novel by

James Branch Cabell James Branch Cabell (; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and ''belles-lettres''. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His work ...

. The first years of existence were rough until they published the diet book ''Look Younger, Live Longer'' by Gayelord Hauser in 1950. The book went on to sell 500,000 copies and Straus said that the book carried them along for a while. In the early years, Straus and his wife Dorothea, went prospecting for books in Italy. It was there that they found the memoir ''

Christ Stopped at Eboli ''Christ Stopped at Eboli'' () is a memoir by Carlo Levi, published in 1945, giving an account of his exile from 1935–1936 to Grassano and Aliano, remote towns in Southern Italy, in the region of Lucania which is known today as Basilicata. In ...

'' by

Carlo Levi Carlo Levi () (29 November 1902 – 4 January 1975) was an Italian painter, writer, activist, Independent Left (Italy), independent leftist politician, and doctor. He is best known for his book ''Christ Stopped at Eboli (novel), Cristo si è fe ...

and other rising Italian authors:

Alberto Moravia Alberto Pincherle (; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990), known by his pseudonym Alberto Moravia ( , ), was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia i ...

Giovannino Guareschi Giovannino Oliviero Giuseppe Guareschi (; 1 May 1908 – 22 July 1968) was an Italian journalist, cartoonist, and humorist whose best known creation is the priest Don Camillo and Peppone, Don Camillo. Life and career Guareschi was born into a ...

and Cesare Pavese. Farrar, Straus also poached or lured away authors from other publishers—one was

Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer, literary critic, and journalist. He is widely regarded as one of the most important literary critics of the 20th century. Wilson began his career as a journalist, writing ...

, who was unhappy with

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

at the time but remained with Farrar, Straus for the remainder of his career. In 1950, the name changed to Farrar, Straus & Young (for Stanley Young, a playwright, author (at Farrar & Rinehart), a literary critic for ''The New York Times'', and an original stockholder and board member).

Merger

In 1953, Pellegrini & Cudahy merged with Farrar, Straus & Young. Robert Giroux joined the company in 1955, and after he later became a partner, the name was changed to Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Giroux had been working for Harcourt and had been angered when Harcourt refused to allow him to publish Salinger's '' Catcher in the Rye''. Giroux brought many literary authors with him including

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915December 10, 1968), religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, Christian mysticism, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. He was a monk in the Trapp ...

John Berryman John Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.; October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in th ...

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects ...

Flannery O'Connor Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. O'Connor was a Southern writer who of ...

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...

, Peter Taylor,

Randall Jarrell Randall Jarrell (May 6, 1914 – October 14, 1965) was an American poet, literary critic, children's author, essayist, and novelist. He was the 11th Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—a position that now bears the title Poet ...

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

, and

Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish ...

. Alan Williams described Giroux's "Pied Piper sweep" as "almost certainly the greatest number of authors to follow, on their own initiative, a single editor from house to house in the history of modern publishing." In 1964, Straus named Giroux chairman of the board and officially added Giroux's name to the publishing company.

Sale

Straus continued to run the company for twenty years after his partner Farrar died, until 1993 when he sold a majority interest of the company to the privately owned German publishing conglomerate Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. Straus offered FSG to the Holtzbrinck family because of their reputation for publishing serious works of literature.

21st century

Jonathan Galassi served as both president and publisher until 2018. From 2004 to 2021, Andrew Mandel served as ''deputy publisher''. In 2008, Mitzi Angel came from Fourth Estate in the UK to be publisher of the Faber and Faber Inc. imprint. In 2018, Angel succeeded Galassi as publisher, and was named president in 2021. Jenna Johnson was named vice president and editor in chief in December 2021, taking the baton from Eric Chinski who was named senior executive editor after 15 years as editor in chief. Other notable editors include Sean McDonald and Alex Star. In February 2015, FSG and Faber and Faber announced the end of their partnership. All books scheduled for release and previously released under the imprint were moved to the FSG colophon by August 2016.

Name history

* Farrar, Straus, and Company (1945–1951) * Farrar, Straus and Young (1950–1956) * Farrar, Straus and Cudahy (1953–1963) – acquired L.C. Page & Co. in 1957 * Farrar, Straus, and Company (1963–1964) after Cudahy left the firm. * Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1964–present)

Current imprints

* MCD/FSG, which is viewed as a kind of a lab to experiment with new styles and genres. The imprint is headed by Sean McDonald, who was joined by Daphne Durham, formerly editor-in-chief and publisher of Amazon Publishing, as executive director to launch the imprint. Durham left MCD in 2023 to join Putnum. * FSG Originals * AUWA Books is an imprint directed by Questlove, the celebrated musician, producer, director, and author devoted to finding inspiring new stories and connecting readers to lost voices while building a community of curious minds. * Quanta Books is a partnership between FSG and the Simons Foundation which illuminates humanity’s quest to understand the universe. From the founding editor of Pulitzer Prize-winning ''

Quanta Magazine ''Quanta Magazine'' is an editorially independent online publication of the Simons Foundation covering developments in physics, mathematics, biology and computer science. History ''Quanta Magazine'' was initially launched as ''Simons Science ...

''. * Hill and Wang publishes books of academic interest and specializes in history. Its authors include

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...

, William Cronon,

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...

, and

Elie Wiesel Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel (September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates#1980, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel bibliogra ...

. * North Point Press published literary nonfiction with an emphasis on natural history, travel, ecology, music, food, and cultural criticism. Its authors include

Peter Matthiessen Peter Matthiessen (May 22, 1927 – April 5, 2014) was an American novelist, naturalist, wilderness writer, zen teacher and onetime CIA agent. A co-founder of the literary magazine ''The Paris Review'', he is the only writer to have won the Nat ...

Beryl Markham Beryl Markham (born Clutterbuck; 26 October 1902 – 3 August 1986) was a Kenyan aviator born in England (one of the first bush pilots), adventurer, racehorse trainer and author. She was the first person to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlant ...

Guy Davenport Guy Mattison Davenport (November 23, 1927 – January 4, 2005) was an American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, intellectual, and teacher. Life Guy Davenport was born in Anderson, South Carolina, in the foothills of Appalachia on Novem ...

, A. J. Liebling,

Margaret Visser Margaret Visser (born May 11, 1940) is a Canadian writer and broadcaster who lives in Toronto, Paris, and South West France. Her subject matter is the history, anthropology, and mythology of everyday life. Biography Born in South Africa, she att ...

, Wendell Berry, and M. F. K. Fisher.

Former imprints

* Sarah Crichton Books published books with a slightly commercial bent. The imprint launched with Cathleen Falsani's ''The God Factor'' in 2006.

Ishmael Beah Ishmael Beah (born 23 November 1980)UNICEF''Youth leadership profiles'', unicef.org; retrieved 15 February 2007. is a Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist who rose to fame with his acclaimed memoir, ''A Long Way Gone''. His novel ''Rad ...

's ''

A Long Way Gone ''A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier'' is a 2007 memoir written by Ishmael Beah, an author from Sierra Leone. The book is a firsthand account of Beah's time as a child soldier during the Sierra Leone Civil War in the 1990s. The book descr ...

'' was a bestseller and a

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

-featured book in 2007. *

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

Inc. published a backlist of drama and books on the arts, entertainment, music, pop culture, cultural criticism, and the media. Its authors included

David Auburn David Auburn (born November 30, 1969) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and theatre director. He is best known for his 2000 play ''Proof'', which won the 2001 Tony Award for Best Play and Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He also wrote the scree ...

, Margaret Edson, Doug Wright,

Richard Greenberg Richard Greenberg (born February 22, 1958) is an American playwright and television writer known for his subversively humorous depictions of middle-class American life. He has had more than 25 plays premiere on and Off-Broadway in New York City ...

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (; born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

, David Hare,

Neil LaBute Neil N. LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American playwright, film director, and screenwriter. He is best known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, ''In the Company of Men'' (1997), which won awards from the Sundance Film Fest ...

, Peter Conrad, Martin Eisenstadt and

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, Love has had a career spanning four decades. She rose to promi ...

. * Scientific American / FSG, led by Amanda Moon, published non-fiction popular science books for the general reader. Its authors included Jesse Bering, Daniel Chamovitz, Kevin Dutton, and Caleb Scharf. * Noonday Press * Melanie Kroupa Books (children's book imprint, 2000–2008) * FSG Originals x ''Logic'', a short-lived imprint for technology books that published '' Blockchain Chicken Farm''.

Bibliography

Books for Young Readers

FSG Books for Young Readers publishes

winners

Madeleine L'Engle Madeleine L'Engle (; November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007) was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young adult fiction, including ''A Wrinkle in Time'' and its sequels: '' A Wind in the Door'', '' A Swiftly Tilting Planet'' ...

(1980),

William Steig William Steig ( ; November 14, 1907 – October 3, 2003) was an American cartoonist, illustrator and writer of children's books, best known for the picture book ''Shrek!'', which inspired the Shrek (franchise), film series of the same name, as we ...

(1983),

Louis Sachar Louis Sachar ( ; born March 20, 1954) is an American young-adult mystery-comedy author. He is best known for the ''Wayside School (book series), Wayside School'' series and the novel ''Holes (novel), Holes''. ''Holes'' won the 1998 U.S. Nationa ...

(1998), and

Polly Horvath Polly Horvath (born January 30, 1957 in Kalamazoo, Michigan) is an American-Canadian author of novels for children and young adults. She won the 2003 U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature for '' The Canning Season'', published by ...

(2003). Books for Young Readers also publishes Natalie Babbitt,

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

Jack Gantos Jack Gantos (born July 2, 1951) is an American author of children's books. He is best known for the fictional characters Rotten Ralph and Joey Pigza. Rotten Ralph is a cat who stars in twenty picture books written by Gantos and illustrated by ...

, George Selden, Uri Shulevitz, Ozge Samanci, and Peter Sis. FSG Books for Young Readers is operated by Macmillan Children's Publishing Group.

Awards

Notable authors

Staff

's then-girlfriend Joyce Johnson, started work in 1957, when Sheila Cudahy was a partner at the firm.

References

External links

*
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers

Work in Progress, an Online Magazine by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Farrar, Straus & Giroux Collection of Isaac Bashevis Singer Papers
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

* {{Authority control Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Publishing companies based in New York City Publishing companies established in 1946 1946 establishments in New York (state) Holtzbrinck Publishing Group