Meet the Editor: Margaret Hivnor-Labarbera, Editor

Margaret Hivnor-Labarbera, Editor

What was the last book you discovered at the Seminary Co-op or 57th Street Books?

On my last trip to the Seminary Co-op Bookstore I found the Penguin Classic of Bruce Chatwin's brilliant (though mendacious) In Patagonia as well as Wendy Doniger's The Ring of Truth: And Other Myths of Sex and Jewelry, in which she channels Sheherazade, telling story after intriguing story. The week before, I'd found a discounted copy of Edmund de Waal's The Hare with Amber Eyes.  How many bookstores would stock all three of these in the same week?

Tell us about a book you discovered at a formative age that helped develop your sensibility.

Not so much one book, but all the books read aloud to me, revealing the language in books to be more interesting than what was spoken at school.  There were strange, mysterious words—especially the French in Tintin books: Saperlipopette!  Tant pis!—and puzzling grammar: "New lamps for old!," "Hew, but the butter was curdled in Hans's house!" Not to mention all the odd accents and diction in Dickens. 

What author, living or dead, would you like to dress up as for Halloween?

If someone else is making the costume, I'd choose Moderata Fonte, Venetian feminist poet who wrote in the 16th century. If I have to make the costume myself, I'd be Ben Franklin but only if he can wear sneakers.

Learn more at press.uchicago.edu/books/editorbio/mhivnor.html