Theodore Wilentz

Background

Theodore Wilentz was born on March 15, 1915, in New York, New York, United States. He had a brother, Eli Wilentz, and a sister. His brother died in 1995.

Education

Theodore Wilentz graduated from New York University.

Career

From 1947 until 1968, Theodore Wilentz and his brother, Eli, co-owned the Eighth Street Bookshop, a New York literary landmark that became a gathering place for writers, artists, poets, and painters. In 1959, the brothers founded the Corinth Books publishing house. Over the years, Corinth published a number of important works, many by young and upcoming writers, including several collections of Beat writings, Diane di Prima's Dinner and Nightmares, Charles Olson's The Maximus Poems, Jack Kerouac's The Scripture of the Golden Eternity and Allen Ginsberg's Empty Mirror.

In 1967, Wilentz sold his half of the bookstore to his brother (the Eighth Street Bookshop was destroyed by an arson fire in 1976, but thanks to public support, reopened six months later and finally closed in 1979). He held several jobs during the next few years, including manager at Brentano's Fifth Avenue location, manager of the Sierra Club's publications, and vice-president of the Gotham Book Mart. He even opened another bookstore, the Discovery Bookstore, which specialized in smaller presses and out-of-print titles. From 1970 to 1973, Wilentz served as president in the Booksellers League of New York.

He closed the bookstore to move to New Haven, Connecticut, as director of the Yale Co-op's book department. After seven years in this position, at the age of 65, he decided to retire. But instead of resting, he became a business consultant, helping independent bookstores. In the 1980s, he served as an overseas volunteer in the International Executive Service Club, an organization that took company presidents to foreign lands to offer advice to struggling businesses. In this capacity, he flew to Kano, Nigeria, spending two months advising bookstores.

He was a grants adviser for the National Endowment for the Arts and a consultant to Robin Moody, the founder of Daedalus Books in Columbia. Wilentz penned a book Natural Process: An Anthology of New Black Poetry.

Achievements

• Ted Wilentz was best known as the owner of the Eighth Street Bookshop, which gained fame as a literary gathering place with close ties to the nonconformist writers of the day, whose works and lifestyle gave rise to the term "Beat Generation." It attracted such famous authors as E. E. Cummings, Allen Ginsberg, etc.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Natural Process: An Anthology of New Black Poetry 1970

Membership

Theodore Wilnetz was a member of the Booksellers League of New York.

Connections

Theodore Wilentz was first married to Esta Wilentz. They had a daughter, Kathy, who died in 1972. Their marriage ended in divorce. His second wife was Joan Steen Wilentz. They had two sons, John E. and David T.

Spouse:

Joan Steen Wilentz

Brother:

Eli Wilentz

Sister:

Lillian Jacobs

ex-spouse:

Esta Wilentz

Daughter:

Kathy Wilentz

Son:

John E. Wilentz

Son:

David T. Wilentz

Friend:

Neal Cassady

References

• Contemporary Authors
  2010