On Monday, December 17, 2018, Laura Barker, VP, Editor-in-Chief for WaterBrook and Multnomah, imprints of Penguin Random House, announced the retirement of Senior Editor Bruce Nygren. Barker shared the following statement with colleagues:
“After more than a decade of serving our imprints with excellence, Bruce Nygren, Senior Editor, WaterBrook and Multnomah, will be retiring at the end of this year.
Bruce first joined our team in 2003 and then returned to work with us in 2008 after a season of running a private writing and editorial service. His exceptional editing and acquisition skills have left an indelible mark on our program, and his delightful personality has endeared him to countless authors and industry colleagues. Over the years he has edited several of our New York Times best-selling books, including Shaken andThis Is the Day, both written by Tim Tebow; Unstoppable by Nick Vujicic; and Fearless by Eric Blehm.
His book publishing career reaches back to 1977, when Bruce first became an associate editor for Thomas Nelson. He eventually rose to vice president of book editorial. Additional highlights from his long career outside of WaterBrook and Multnomah include serving as editorial director for NavPress, cowriter and editor for FamilyLife, and acquisitions editor for Moody Publishers.
Over the course of his career, Bruce has edited dozens of best-selling authors, including David Platt, Mark Sanborn, Stephen Arterburn, Meadowlark Lemon, Franklin Graham, John Maxwell, John Eldredge, Gary Smalley, Malcolm Muggeridge, and Eugene Peterson, among many others.
Bruce is highly respected throughout Christian publishing for his editorial acumen, warm presence, and welcome sense of humor. His knowledge of the marketplace and his expert ability to shape a manuscript to its most compelling form have established Bruce as an invaluable source of wisdom for many authors, agents, and colleagues over his storied career.
A man of spiritual depth and thoughtful insight, Bruce will be missed by all of us. Please join me in thanking him for his countless contributions to our imprint and wishing him all good things as he embarks on a new season of life, with more time for travel and enjoying his beloved children and grandchildren, along with the occasional freelance editing project.”
