Two top Penguin Random House editors are leaving as publisher transforms

NEW YORK (AP) — Two top editors at Penguin Random House are leaving as the country’s leading trading publisher continues to transform during a period of uncertain revenues and generational change.

The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a Penguin Random House division, announced Monday the dismissals of Alfred A. Knopf publisher Reagan Arthur and Pantheon/Schocken publisher Lisa Lucas. A publishing official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the restructuring was for financial reasons. Knopf and Pantheon/Schocken are two of the industry’s most established literary publishers and Arthur and Lucas two of the most widely liked editors. Their departures were met with surprise and dismay around the industry; author Sara Schaff wrote on X that the news was “demoralizing and short sighted.”