Linda Summers: It was with much pleasure that I attended a select and enjoyable evening reception last night celebrating Linda Summers' retirement from Random House Children's Books. I have known Linda for a large percentage of my life and she has been a loyal, trusted and terrific family friend throughout these many years. There is little that can be added to the words spoken by Julia MacRae and Philippa Dickinson save to say that there a handful of people without whom the IC would not be basking on sunny Bury St today; Linda is one of them. On more than one occasion I have bribed her with dreadful cooking and embarrassingly lukewarm chardonnay to sit around my kitchen table and stuff thousands of envelopes, not what one would normally ask of one of the most respected associate publishers in the industry. Thank you Linda. Needless to say there was an impressive turnout of friends, colleagues, artists and writers and I enjoyed catching up with those I know and meeting those I didn't. In the erudite publishing atmosphere I considerably improved my sketchy grasp of English grammar and am now relishing my new editorial knowledge of ellipses . Manzanilla is served at 11am ...
