Ira Silverberg
Encyclopedia
Ira Silverberg is an influential literary agent and editor in the New York publishing business. Silverberg worked as a literary agent at Donadio & Ashworth, as Editor-in-Chief at Grove/Atlantic Press, and as editorial and publishing director at Serpent's Tail
's U.S. projects, High Risk Books
and Midnight Classics. He also founded the marketing and public relations firm, Ira Silverberg Communications. This firm has attracted clients like The Academy of American Poets, William S. Burroughs
, the estate of David Wojnarowicz
, Dennis Cooper
, City Lights Publications, and Re/Search Publications. He is currently an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic.
Silverberg co-edited two anthologies, High Risk (Dutton/Plume U.S.; Serpent's Tail U.K.) and High Risk 2 (Plume U.S.; Serpent's Tail U. K.), while working for Serpent's Tail
. These two works were influential in defining the Downtown aesthetic.
Silverberg has become affiliated with many cultural institutions in New York City, including BOMB magazine and the Member's Council of PEN American Center. He has also acted as judge for the Gregory Kolovakos Award for AIDS writing and been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts Literature Program and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. He has acted as editorial advisor to the Portable Lower East Side and has been a visiting faculty member at The New School for Social Research. Silverberg contributed the Serpent's Tail/High Risk Archives to the Fales Library
of NYU.
Serpent's Tail
Serpent's Tail is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It is notable for its translated works, particularly European crime fiction, and is the British publisher of Elfriede Jelinek and Lionel Shriver...
's U.S. projects, High Risk Books
High Risk Books
High Risk Books was founded in New York City in 1993, as an imprint of Serpent's Tail Press of London. Started by Ira Silverberg and Amy Scholder, who was then an editor at City Lights Books in San Francisco. High Risk Books was dedicated to publishing innovative, provocative, and progressive...
and Midnight Classics. He also founded the marketing and public relations firm, Ira Silverberg Communications. This firm has attracted clients like The Academy of American Poets, William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
, the estate of David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was a painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s.-Biography:...
, Dennis Cooper
Dennis Cooper
Dennis Cooper is an American novelist, poet, critic, editor and performance artist.-Career:Cooper grew up the son of a wealthy businessman in Arcadia, California. His first forays into literature came early, focusing on imitations of Rimbaud, Verlaine, de Sade, and Baudelaire...
, City Lights Publications, and Re/Search Publications. He is currently an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic.
Silverberg co-edited two anthologies, High Risk (Dutton/Plume U.S.; Serpent's Tail U.K.) and High Risk 2 (Plume U.S.; Serpent's Tail U. K.), while working for Serpent's Tail
Serpent's Tail
Serpent's Tail is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It is notable for its translated works, particularly European crime fiction, and is the British publisher of Elfriede Jelinek and Lionel Shriver...
. These two works were influential in defining the Downtown aesthetic.
Silverberg has become affiliated with many cultural institutions in New York City, including BOMB magazine and the Member's Council of PEN American Center. He has also acted as judge for the Gregory Kolovakos Award for AIDS writing and been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts Literature Program and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. He has acted as editorial advisor to the Portable Lower East Side and has been a visiting faculty member at The New School for Social Research. Silverberg contributed the Serpent's Tail/High Risk Archives to the Fales Library
Fales Library
New York University's Fales Library and Special Collections is located on the third floor of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at 70 Washington Square South between LaGuardia Place and the Schwartz Plaza, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It houses nearly 200,000...
of NYU.