CC’ing Lise Solomon

September 11, 2025 | jordan bascom | consortium corner

Lise Solomon on almost 30 years as a rep with the Karel/Dutton Group and being an early (pre-Pulitzer) champion for Tinkers.

Welcome to Consortium Corner, a Q&A series with staff and reps to celebrate Consortium’s 40 years of independent book distribution.

Tell us a little about yourself and the work you do with Consortium.

My 30th anniversary as a rep with the K/D Group is in 2026. The group has represented Consortium since the beginning. I still can’t get over how amazing it is to have a job where I get to read books and go to bookstores to talk with my friends about them.

What are 5 Consortium titles you love and why?

Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli (Coffee House Press)
This short book about Valeria Luiselli’s work translating for immigrant children will make you sob on the BART train.

Carmen Dog by Carol Emshwiller (Small Beer Press)
After learning that former rep Bob Harrison named his dog Carmen for this book, I knew it would be a great read. So true!

I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita (Coffee House Press)
Epic, brilliant blend of real and imagined history of SF Chinatown.

Blue Marlin by Lee Smith (Blair)
I’m not from the South but the family dynamics and life seen through a young teen’s eyes is so perceptive and universal.

Animals Strike Curious Poses by Elena Passarello (Sarabande Books)
Learned a lot and laughed a ton, damn she is funny.

Outside of Consortium titles, what books have you enjoyed recently?

I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney and Indian Country by Shobha Rao.

Can you share any special or formative experiences you’ve had with bookstores and libraries?

When I was around 11, a friend predicted that I would be a book editor, she wasn’t too far off!

In your time repping Consortium, what memorable or meaningful moments stand out?

The whole Tinkers story is still mind-boggling. Reading an ARC and deciding that I was going to champion the hell out of a book that had everything going against it (debut author not local to my territory, white cover, story where nothing really happens) was not my usual m.o. I was driving across the Bay Bridge into SF when a friend called to tell me that it had won the Pulitzer. I thought he was pulling my leg and had to call a bookseller friend to confirm.

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