Amy Hamm: Galloway’s career collapse was ‘heartbreaking,’ publisher testifies

A publisher and editor of Steven Galloway’s books testified at his defamation trial Tuesday, telling the court that the November 2015 rape accusations against the author derailed his writing career “almost overnight.”

Sign In or Create an Account

“We had to cancel festival engagements. Books were returned from the bookstores,” Louise Dennys told B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. “It was extraordinary and I had not seen that before.”

Dennys testified from Toronto via videoconference. She is the founder of Knopf Canada, and the publisher emerita of Penguin Random House Canada. Dennys is described as a “hands-on” editor of several famous authors including Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie.

Columnist Jesse Kline keeps you up to date with what’s happening in Israel and the effects of antisemitism on life here in Canada. Friday mornings.

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Channel Israel will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Dennys described the 2015 public and unproven sexual assault allegations against Galloway as “inescapable in the media” and as having “blanketed the country, but obviously the literary community.” She told the court she went off social media in the wake of the allegations so that she could focus on her publishing requirements, but that it was “difficult to miss what was going on.”

She said she fielded numerous calls about Galloway “from publishers all over the world.” She described how bookstores didn’t want to display the author’s work, sent his books back to the publisher, and refused to do any re-orders.

A woman known only as A.B., due to a publication ban, accused the bestselling novelist and former University of British Columbia (UBC) professor of rape in 2015. The two had what Galloway testified was a two-year, consensual affair. Both were married and A.B., who was a student at the time, is older than Galloway. The unproven allegations were deemed not to have occurred by retired judge Mary Ellen Boyd, who investigated the matter on behalf of UBC.

Dennys said that she was involved in the editorial development of Galloway’s best-selling novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo and that she was then involved with editing, publishing, and marketing Galloway’s next novel, The Confabulist. Dennys described Galloway as a writer she expected to “write through to a lifetime of publishing good books.”

She said that the release of Boyd’s report, which ostensibly exonerated Galloway, “gave us the hope that the thing would die away completely.” Her publishing house signed a contract with Galloway “pretty much immediately” after the Boyd report came out, she testified, though it emerged that the accusations against Galloway were not, in fact, going anywhere. Galloway “remained persona non grata,” said Dennys.

She described that her company attempted to wait, putting Galloway’s next project—a three-book detective series—on hold. However, said Dennys, Galloway eventually admitted that he was so traumatized by what had happened that he had totally lost the ability to write.

“It was one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve heard in my life as a publisher,” said Dennys.

Under cross examination, A.B.’s lawyer, Sydney Gomez, questioned Dennys about the trajectory of Galloway’s literary career.

When asked about The Confabulist having less commercial success than The Cellist of Sarajevo, Dennys pointed out that it was not possible to market this book after A.B.’s allegations against Galloway went public.

“No marketing has been done since the allegations on any of his books,” Dennys testified.

She also told the court that authors, as “part of the artistic process” will explore new directions in their writings after having a “spectacular success.” She told the court that book publishers often abide by a rule of thumb to let writers go after “three book flops in a row,” but that most authors face ups and downs in sales and critical reception.

Dennys described how “tall poppy syndrome” can cause critics to express disappointment when an author’s new book is not “doing the same thing” as a previous and extremely successful novel. Finally, she explained that The Confabulist “did not sell badly” and that the publisher “never knew how well it could sell because the paperback died in the water” following A.B.’s allegations.

Gomez also attempted to lead Dennys through Penguin Random House sales and royalty figures from Galloway’s books (earlier provided to the court by the plaintiff), which caused confusion for the witness and Justice Neena Sharma.

She finished her cross examination by asking Dennys to confirm that both she and the publishing house held Galloway in high regard and were supportive of him.

“One hundred per cent,” Dennys replied.

Galloway’s lawyer, Dan Burnett, spent a portion of the day reading transcripts from previous hearings into the record. This included testimony from Chelsea Rooney, one of the defendants who settled with Galloway — and issued a public apology — before the defamation trial began this month. In 2015, Rooney was “deputized” by UBC creative writing professors to find additional persons willing to accuse Galloway of wrongdoing.

Burnett read aloud transcripts of testimony about phone calls Rooney made to other UBC students in November 2015, as well as a follow-up email that Rooney sent and which referenced Canadian Press journalist Laura Kane. (The court previously heard from a witness that Rooney had encouraged the persons she spoke with to report accusations against Galloway to the news media.) As per the transcripts, Rooney admitted to telling the persons she contacted that Galloway stood accused of rape by A.B. She also admitted to having no training in sexual assault investigation and to having not taken into consideration her independence when investigating Galloway.

Justice Sharma also ruled on last week’s voir dire (trial within a trial) and will allow the entirety of Galloway’s expert report from Kevin Hanson, a literary agent and the former president of Simon & Schuster Canada, to be admitted to the court.

Sharma stated that the defence had “no basis to object to admissibility” of Hanson’s expert report, though she may consider its weight later in the trial.

Hanson will likely testify next week.

Tuesday included another voir dire to discuss the admissibility of an additional expert report. Justice Sharma will rule on this issue Wednesday afternoon.

National Post

Disclosure: I had a prior friendship with Chelsea Rooney, a former defendant in this case, who settled ahead of the trial.

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.