David Davidar

In Canada the last few days, it’s all David Davidar, all the time. In a Quill & Quire report, Scott MacDonald puts continuing developments succinctly: “Though the media frenzy surrounding the sexual harassment charges brought against former Penguin Canada president David Davidar by former employee Lisa Rundle may have abated somewhat, new details have come to light that paint a damning picture of what allegedly went on within the company.”

Those new details: that “one of Rundle’s more damaging claims against Penguin — outlined in a 19-page legal filing sent to Q&Q by Rundle’s lawyer, Bobbi Olsen — is that the company’s human resources department was aware of prior sexual harassment by Davidar of at least one other employee, former executive assistant Samantha Francis. (Francis, who still works in the industry, gave Q&Q permission to run her name in this article.)”

What’s more, Rundle insists that, contrary to what Penguin is saying (see the earlier MobyLives report), she most definitely didn’t quit, she was fired. In her version of events, she ….

… formally aired her complaints after being promoted to director of digital publishing and foreign rights in January 2010. Though the position came with an increase in responsibilities and salary, it also put her in a direct reporting relationship to Davidar, which she claims led to increased incidences of harassment. Consequently, Rundle asked in March to be released from the new position and returned to her old one, reporting to publisher Nicole Winstanley.

Several days later, Rundle claims she met with Wood, who told her she had misunderstood Davidar’s conduct. Later that day, Rundle was called to Davidar’s office ostensibly so that he could apologize, but instead, Rundle alleges, he simply told her that her job was not in jeopardy.

Unhappy with the company’s lack of action, Rundle obtained legal counsel and went back to Penguin with her concerns about Davidar on May 13. Later that day, Rundle alleges that she was notified of her termination and offered six months severance plus benefits and a small bonus.

Neither Penguin nor Davidar have responded to requests for a response.

Meanwhile, in an unsigned commentary at liveMint.com, tries to find some perspective on the significance of Davidar’s fall to publishing:

He is one of the publishing world’s sharpest CEOs. He makes authors. As one of the founders of Penguin India and later as its captain, Davidar launched authors who changed perceptions about how India writes. Vikram Seth, Arundhati Roy, Vikram Chandra, Kiran Desai, Shobhaa De, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Suketu Mehta—possibly all the names that altered the canvas of Indian fiction in English were Davidar’s finds. Before the late 1980s, V.S. Naipaul, who loathed his own Indianness; or Nirad C. Chaudhuri, who sniggered at the very idea of independent India, and just a few more were our authors. Stories and characters from Indian states and cities—their ugliness, prejudices, beauty and contradictions—suddenly became stuff of literary fiction. India became exotic in the process perhaps, but a new generation found voice. After he took over Penguin International in 2003, Davidar signed up Joseph Boyden and Michael Winter. The Canadian division has reportedly doubled its revenues; in 2008, it won a Giller Prize for Boyden’s Through Black Spruce.

Of course, there’s potentially another side to the view of Davidar as a legend: “Wow moral of the story is, as long as you’re a “legend” you can feel up whoever you like.”