People Round-Up, Mid-July 2017

PEOPLE

At the Library of America, Cheryl Hurley, President, and Geoffrey O’Brien, Editor-in-Chief, will retire at the end of 2017. Hurley will be succeeded by Max Rudin, who is currently Publisher; a replacement will be sought for O’Brien.

Frank Autunnale has been named Chief Financial Officer for the Independent Publishers Group (IPG) and its subsidiaries, replacing Cara Semple, who has left to pursue other opportunities. Autunnale was most recently VP, Finance at Hachette Book Group.

At the Feminist Press, Jamia Wilson has been named Executive Director and Publisher, succeeding Jennifer Baumgardner. Wilson was previously Executive Director of Women, Action & the Media.

Emiko Usui has been named Editor-in-Chief at the National Gallery of Art, where she will lead the Gallery’s publishing division and oversee content for the website, periodicals, and ephemera. She previously served for six years as Director of MFA Publications at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Jess Zimmerman is now Editor-in-Chief at Electric Literature. She is the founding editor of Archipelago, and her cultural commentary and essays have appeared in, among others, The Toast, Slate, The New Republic, Hazlitt, and Catapult.

Mary Marotta has joined Dorling Kindersley as VP, Sales, Marketing, and Publicity; she was previously Deputy Publisher and VP, Director of Children’s Sales, at Simon & Schuster. Brandi Larsen has also joined DK as VP, Publishing, moving over from her previous role as Digital Publishing Director at Penguin Random House.

At Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Tracy Danz has joined as VP, Sales and Marketing. He is the owner of LaneDanz Consulting, LLC and previously worked as Director of Library Sales and Marketing at HarperCollins Christian Publishing.

At Norton, VP and Senior Editor Maria Guarnaschelli has retired after almost 17 years at the company.

George Andreou has been appointed Director of Harvard University Press, effective at the beginning of September. He is currently VP and Senior Editor at Knopf and will succeed William P. Sisler, who is retiring after nearly twenty-seven years in the position.

At House of SpeakEasy, Erin Cox has been named Executive Producer. She is also Senior Associate at Rob Weisbach Creative Management and Business Development Director at Publishing Perspectives.

Yelena Gitlin Nesbit will join Harper Wave/HarperCollins as Senior Director of Publicity effective July 31. She has spent nine years at Rodale Books, most recently as Executive Director of Strategic Development and Communications. At Harper Design, Cristina Garces has joined as Editor; she was previously Associate Editor at Abrams.

At Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, Lisa Moraleda has joined as Director of Publicity and oversees Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Atheneum, Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, Margaret K McElderry, Salaam Reads, Beach Lane Books, and Saga Press. She was previously Associate Director of Publicity for Little, Brown Children’s. Anna Jarzab is joining as Digital Marketing Strategist, moving over from her role as Associate Director of Digital and Social Marketing for Penguin Young Readers.

In addition, Matt Pantoliano, Senior Digital Marketing Manager; Katy Hershberger, Associate Director of Publicity; and Faye Bi, Senior Publicist, have left the company.

Michael Caiati has joined Random House Children’s as Designer for the trade marketing team. He was previously Designer for Atlantic Ultraviolet Corporation.

Nicole Caputo has joined Counterpoint Press and Catapult as, respectively, Creative Director and Art Director. She was previously Creative Director at Basic Books.

Gregory Henry has joined Rare Bird Books as Director of Publicity. He was previously Senior Publicity Manager for HarperCollins.

Mark Anderson has joined Parallax Press as Marketing Director. He is Principal at Aethervision/Boilerplate Creative.

At agencies…Brandi Bowles has joined United Talent Agency as Agent, having worked previously as Agent for Foundry Literary + Media. Jenna Pocius joins Red Fox Literary as Agent; she was most recently Editor at little bee. At The Science Factory, Jeff Shreve has joined as Agent; he was previously Editor at W.W. Norton. At Sanford J. Greenburger, Mary Kate Skeehan, formerly Subrights Associate at Norton, has joined as Senior Scout, and John Bowers, formerly Agent at The Bent Agency, has joined as Scout. Lisa Bankoff has left ICM to establish her own agency, Bankoff Collaborative. Laura Biagi has left the Jean V. Naggar Agency after nearly eight years to pursue an MFA at the University of Houston and can be reached at LauraJBiagi@gmail.com.

Chelsey Emmelhainz has joined Crooked Lane as Senior Editor. She was previously Editor at Arcade.

Ilene Schreider has joined Sourcebooks as Senior Manager of Specialty Retail. She was previously Assistant Director of Specialty Sales for Time Books.

Lauren Christensen is joining the books desk at The New York Times as Senior Staff Editor. She was previously Associate Features Editor at Harper’s Bazaar.

At Workman Publishing, JT Green has joined as National Accounts Sales Manager; previously, he was Sales Assistant at Abrams.

Mekisha Telfer has joined Glasstown Entertainment as Associate Editor, moving over from her role as Editorial Assistant at Simon & Schuster.

At Picador, Brianna Scharfenberg is now Publicist, moving over from the same position at Skyhorse. Sara DeLozier has joined as Publicity Coordinator.

Sara Henning-Stout has joined Princeton University Press as Publicist, having worked previously as Publicity Manager at Rutgers University Press.

At Kensington, Samantha McVeigh is joining as Communications Materials Assistant.

PROMOTIONS

Sally Franklin has been promoted to VP, Executive Managing Editor for the Crown Publishing Group. At the Crown and Crown Archetype imprints, Kirsten Clawson has been promoted to Assistant Managing Editor and Jessica Heim is now Production Associate.

At Princeton University Press, Eric Crahan has been promoted to Executive Editor. Jodi Price is now Associate Publicist, and Julia Haav has been promoted to Assistant Director of Publicity.

At Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, Chrissy Noh has been promoted to Senior Director of Marketing for Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Atheneum, Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, Margaret K McElderry, Salaam Reads, Beach Lane Books, Paula Wiseman Books, and Saga Press. Jill Hacking is now Retail Marketing Coordinator. Nicole Russo, Senior Director of Publicity, now heads up the publicity team for Pulse, Aladdin, Little Simon, Simon Spotlight, and Paula Wiseman Books and oversees publicity for Cassandra Clare.

At Amazon Publishing, Courtney Dodson has been promoted to Senior Creative Director. Gabrielle Guarnero and Justin Sharrett have been promoted to Marketing Manager, and Gabriella Dumpit moves up to Author Relations Manager.

Maja Nikolic has been given the new title of Managing Director, Global Licensing at Writers House. Cecilia de la Campa has been promoted to the new role of Executive Director, Global Licensing and Domestic Partnerships. Katie Stuart and James Munro have both been promoted to Licensing Manager and report to Nikolic and de la Campa.

At agencies…Cassandra Rodgers and Harry Endrulat have been promoted to Agent at The Rights Factory, while Lydia Moed moves up to Literary and Foreign Rights Agent. Anna Trader and Lindsay Leggett have become Associate Agents. At Sanford J. Greenburger, Hanna Masaryk has been promoted to Senior Scout, Children’s and YA.

Lulu Martinez has been promoted to Communications Manager for Fiction and Lead Suspense at Kensington, while Claire Hill has been promoted to Associate Communications Manager for Thrillers and Dafina.

Elizabeth Bruce is now Editor at Picador, and Marlena Brown is now Senior Publicist.

At Abrams Children’s, Erica Finkel has been promoted to Editor.

Lauren Smulski has been promoted to Associate Editor for Harlequin Teen.

DULY NOTED

Jamie Raab and Deb Futter, both formerly of Grand Central Publishing, are forming a new Macmillan imprint, Celadon Books. Raab will be President and Publisher, and Futter will be Senior VP and Co-Publisher. They will join Macmillan in September.

Beginning August 1, Simon & Schuster will handle sales to select accounts and distribution in North America for IglooBooks, a division of Bonnier Publishing that produces mass market adult and children’s books. S&S is expanding its existing relationship with Bonnier, which already includes sales and distribution for little bee books, Sizzle Press, Weldon Owen, and Blue Streak Books.

Effective July 1, Edmison/Harper Literary Scouting has begun working with new Brazilian publishing house Todavia Livros. On August 1, they will begin scouting for Ambo Anthos in Holland.

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation is launching the Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship for Emerging Bookseller-Activists Fund in honor of the late marketing executive, who died in May.

The Women’s National Book Association, in celebration of its centennial, is awarding a one-time grant of $5,000 to Little Free Library, a nonprofit organization promoting free book exchanges.