FALLARTS
an open book
Meet the local publisher behind A fan-favorite Breakthrough novel here the Crawdads Sing” is part murder mystery, part romance and part comingof-age tale that follows main character Kya Clark as she survives alone in the marsh of fictional coastal North Carolina town, Barkley Cove, in the ’50s and ’60s. The 2018 novel has topped The New York Times Best Sellers list nearly since its debut, and the book’s fervent success led to its development into a major motion picture, which released on July 15 and features an original song by Taylor Swift. The words by author Delia Owens had a monumental impact not only on the novel’s fanbase, but also on the book’s publisher, Tara Singh Carlson, who felt such a connection to North Carolina after reading the story that she moved here, sight unseen, from New Jersey in 2020. Now the Chicago native lives in the Garrett Farms neighborhood with her husband, Andrew Carlson, and the couple’s two children, Charlie, 3, and Felix, 5. “I love it here,” she says. “I feel very lucky.” Read on to learn more about her career path, book recommendations and how she hopes to earn cool points with her her kids one day:
PHOTO BY JOHN MICHAEL SIMPSON
Tara Singh Carlson is the executive editor at Putnam, an imprint of publishing company Penguin Random House.
Tell me a little bit about your background in publishing. I started in
publishing in 2009, and my first job was actually at a literary agency, [Sanford J. Greenburger Associates], where the agents are on the other side of the publishing business, [representing] the authors. I did that for a year, and it was quickly clear that this was not the right spot for me. My very next job was at [Penguin Random House]. I started as an editorial assistant [in 2010], and was at Penguin Books for four years. Then I moved to Putnam, where I’ve been for almost eight years. What initially drew you to the industry? Everybody who works in
publishing is a reader. In college, I kept thinking, ‘What could I possibly spend the rest of my life working in?’ The answer for me 36
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was pretty obvious – books. I always loved to read and escape into reading. Some of my biggest role models were fictional characters, and I wanted to make a living out of bringing stories to readers. What are some of your favorite books you’ve published over the years? You never forget your first, so the very first book I
published was “The House at Tyneford” by Natasha Solomons. That book really launched my career because it ended up becoming a New York Times bestseller, so [it] will always have a soft spot in my heart. The most fun publications are when, through all of the stars aligning, [a book] manages to find its audience. Another I will always remember publishing is “The Light We Lost” by Jill Santopolo. “Where the