NEW YORK — Lindy Hess, who ran a rigorous and influential publishing training program at Columbia University that helped many break into the book industry, has died. She was 63.
Shaye Areheart, deputy director of the Columbia publishing course, says Hess died of cancer Saturday at her home in Cambridge, Mass.
Over the past 25 years, Hess was credited with revitalizing a program that had originated in 1947 at Radcliffe College in Cambridge and moved to Columbia in 2001. Students at the six-week program were immersed in everything from how to design a book to negotiating with agents. Guest speakers and teachers included top industry professionals and such publishing celebrities as Tina Brown.
Hess, a Manhattan native, was editorial director of Dolphin Books at Doubleday before taking over the publishing course.
