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Candida Donadio

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Candida Donadio
BornOctober 22, 1929
Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
DiedJanuary 20, 2001
Stonington, Connecticut, U.S.
OccupationLiterary agent

Candida Donadio (October 22, 1929 – January 20, 2001) was an American literary agent. She represented many writers, including Mario Puzo, John Cheever, Philip Roth and Cormac McCarthy.[1][2]

Donadio was referred to in the mid-1960s as part of what Esquire called the "red-hot center" of contemporary literature, after shepherding books such as Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (1961), Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death (1963), and Thomas Pynchon's V. (1963) through successful publishing campaigns.[3][4]

Life

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Donadio was born on October 22, 1929, in Brooklyn, New York City.[5] Her parents were immigrants from Sicily.[5]

In 1953, Donadio worked as a girl Friday at McIntosh & McKee, when Joseph Heller submitted a very early version of Catch-22. Heller later wrote in 1994 that Donadio's superiors had no interest in the book, finding it "incomprehensible," but Donadio took initiative to submit the chapter to periodicals.[6][7] After some time, Donadio convinced the literary magazine New World Writing to accept the first chapter, which increased Heller's confidence in the work.[6]

By 1957, Donadio secured offers from both Simon & Schuster and Viking Press based on an early completely unfinished draft.[citation needed] Donadio and Heller decided to go with Simon & Schuster, in part due to the enthusiasm of then-editorial assistant Robert Gottlieb. Donadio moved to Herb Jaffe's agency as the firm expanded beyond representing playwrights and actors, with Donadio becoming one of its key literary representatives.[5]

Heller's Catch-22 was initially called Catch 18, and it was changed to avoid confusion with Leon Uris's Mila 18.[5][8] In interviews, Donadio claimed that the number was changed to her birthday as a gesture, though Robert Gottlieb rejected that narrative entirely as "lying" in his 2016 autobiography.[3] He claims that the title change developed from him, as he felt that "22" was much funnier than "18."[3]

The birthday story is still sometimes repeated as a possible reason for the name change, including in her obituaries.

While working through Catch-22 with Heller, Donadio began to represent Philip Roth in 1958.[9] Donadio helped negotiate the sale of his first book, Goodbye, Columbus to Houghton Mifflin, boosting the publisher's advance offer from $1,000 to $2,500 by leveraging a counteroffer from Viking Press.[9] The debut won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1960.[10]

Donadio served as Roth's agent from 1958 until 1972. While representing him, she notably negotiated large publishing and film rights contracts for Portnoy's Complaint.[11] In a 1972 letter after firing her as his agent, Roth wrote that "unlike Portnoy, I have no complaints," though biographer Blake Bailey speculates that her "very mothering" style and Roth's "general aloofness" had worn on the relationship.[12]

After Jaffe sold his agency in 1961, Donadio moved to Russell & Volkening, where she worked until 1968.[8] She founded her own namesake literary agency after leaving Russell & Volkening, which later bore the name of agents such as Eric Ashworth and Neil Olson.[13][14]

Donadio's namesake agency ran for more than 20 years after her retirement and 17 years after her death, when it filed for bankruptcy in 2018.[15] The company's bookkeeper of 20 years, Darin Webb, was sentenced to two years in prison later that same month, for embezzling 3.4 million dollars from the agency.[16]

In 1984, Donadio sold 120 letters written by Pynchon to herself between 1962 and 1983 to Carter Burden for $45,000 via Santa Barbara book dealer Ralph Sipper.[17]

Donadio resided in Stonington, Connecticut. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1995, and she died on January 20, 2001.[5][8]

References

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  1. ^ Davis, Steve (2010-09-23). "Unpacking Cormac McCarthy". The Texas Observer. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  2. ^ "Joy Williams Remembers the Wildest Decades of Her Life". Esquire. 2024-08-13. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  3. ^ a b c Gottlieb, Robert (September 13, 2016). Avid Reader: A Life. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-0374279929.
  4. ^ Foote, Timothy (1995-08-13). "There Goes (Varoom!) Esquire Magazine". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Candida Donadio; Literary Agent for Heller, Roth, Other Authors". The Los Angeles Times. January 28, 2001. p. 39. Retrieved August 18, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b Daugherty, Tracy (August 2, 2011). Just One Catch: A Biography of Joseph Heller. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 172–175. ISBN 978-0312596859.
  7. ^ Heller, Joseph (1994). "Preface to Catch-22". Catch-22 (Reprint with a preface by Heller ed.). Vintage.
  8. ^ a b c Van Gelder, Lawrence (January 25, 2001). "Candida Donadio, 71, Agent Who Handled 'Catch-22,' Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  9. ^ a b Bailey, Blake (April 6, 2021). Philip Roth: The Biography. W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 130–135. ISBN 978-0-393-24072-6.
  10. ^ "Goodbye, Columbus". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  11. ^ Bailey, Blake (April 6, 2021). Philip Roth: The Biography. W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 260–265. ISBN 978-0-393-24072-6.
  12. ^ Bailey, Blake (April 6, 2021). Philip Roth: The Biography. W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 310–320. ISBN 978-0-393-24072-6.
  13. ^ "Eric Ashworth, 39, A Literary Agent". The New York Times. 1997-07-24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  14. ^ Levine |, Beth. "BookExpo 2017: Neil Olson: From Both Sides Now". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  15. ^ Milliot |, Jim. "Donadio & Olson Files for Bankruptcy". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  16. ^ Albanese |, Andrew. "Bookkeeper Gets Two Year Sentence for Scheme that Destroyed Donadio & Olson". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  17. ^ Gussow, Mel (March 10, 1998). "Pynchon letters give a peek at reclusive writer". South Florida Sun Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. p. 47. Retrieved August 18, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.


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