This past year, I had the pleasure of working with the company’s founder, Harry Lerner, on his memoir. I had been bugging him to write it since 2006, because the company’s 50th anniversary was coming up in 2009. I KNEW it would take a lot of nudging to get him going, and boy was I right.

In the end, though, it really was more fun than work. Reading his chatty stories about the bits of genius, bits of good luck, and lots of hard work that went into creating a lasting publishing company was fascinating. Some of the stories I already knew, having worked here for nearly half the company’s history. Some I discovered during the process of editing. In any case, the memoir was on hand at the 50th anniversary gala. About 500 people joined us for the event, which was held during IRA at the Minneapolis Central Library (photo above).

On one of my next blog posts, I’ll share some of my favorite HJL stories.