In addition to being an editor, Korda was also a writer. In 2000, he published Another Life: A Memoir of Other People, about the world of publishing. In 1997 he wrote Man to Man, which recounted his medical experience. In the autumn of 1994, he was diagnosed as having prostate cancer. Korda was a major part of Simon & Schuster for more than forty years. Shirer, Will and Ariel Durant, Harold Robbins, Irving Wallace, Richard Nixon, Richard Rhodes and Ronald Reagan. Korda was a major figure in the book industry, publishing numerous works by high-profile writers and personalities such as William L. Knopf, Korda became Editor-in-Chief of Simon & Schuster. Īfter Robert Gottlieb left Simon & Schuster for Alfred A. One of the first books Korda bought was The Forest People by Colin Turnbull-a memoir of Turnbull's time living with the Mbuti Pygmies in the then Belgian Congo.

He states in his memoir that he edited books on everything from mathematics and philosophy, memoirs, fiction, translations from French, politics, anthropology and science history among others. Many editors stick to one area of interest, but early on Korda demonstrated an ability and interest in editing both fiction and non-fiction. In 1958 he joined the book publishing firm Simon & Schuster, beginning as an assistant editor, which included the task of reading slush pile manuscripts for Henry Simon. Korda moved to New York City in 1957 where he worked for playwright Sidney Kingsley as a research assistant and then later as a freelance reader in the CBS story department. Korda met him on his uncle Alex Korda's yacht.

The novelist Graham Greene was a lifelong friend. He served in the Royal Air Force doing intelligence work in Germany. He was schooled at the private Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland and read History at Magdalen College, Oxford. As a child, Korda also lived in the United States from 1941 to 1946. Korda grew up in the UK but received part of his education in France where his father had worked with film director Marcel Pagnol. He is the nephew of film magnate Sir Alexander Korda and his brother Zoltan Korda, both of whom were film directors. Michael Korda (born 8 October 1933) is an English-born writer and novelist who was editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster in New York City.īorn in London, Michael Korda is the son of English actress Gertrude Musgrove and the Hungarian-Jewish artist and film production designer Vincent Korda.

Queenie korda