HarperCollins recently announced that it will close its U.S. imprint Fourth Estate. Acquired by the book publisher in July 2000, Fourth Estate was operated solely as a division of HarperCollins UK before its counterpart was launched in the United States, in June 2001. During the last four years, Fourth Estate has published books by Michael Chabon, David Means, Carol Shields, and others.
Christopher Potter and Daniel Halpern, the editorial director of Ecco, another imprint of HarperCollins, were copublishers of the U.S. imprint. Victoria Barnsley, the CEO of HarperCollins UK, said the decision to close Fourth Estate was made after Potter announced his departure from the publishing industry.
Fourth Estate will continue to publish books in the U.K., where it has built its reputation on publishing American authors such as Michael Cunningham, Jonathan Franzen, Kathryn Harrison, Sebastian Junger, Joyce Carol Oates, and Annie Proulx.
Christopher Arthur is a freelance writer in New York City.
