PEOPLE
Between the Random/Ballantine merger and the “Voluntary Retirement” package, insiders say that the total number of exiting employees is cresting thirty, including Howard Weill (Hweill@optonline.net), Mike Moran (mmoran123@aol.com), Ivan Held (IvanHeld@yahoo.com), Dan Rembert (Drem3ert@earthlink.net), Kathleen Spinelli (kspinelli@ mac.com), Susan Gilmer (susan@gilmer.com), Barbara Greenberg, Erica Muncy, and editors Tracy Brown (Tracy_Brown03@msn.com) and Dan Smetanka. The over-50 retirement package still has another few weeks to kick in, so the total may be higher by the end of May. Clarkson Potter Editor of Special Projects Roy Finamore has taken the package, and may be reached at roy@tastycentral.com. Katy Workman has also left Clarkson Potter to return to her roots at Workman. And Lauren Shakely has hired Rosemary Ngo from Barnes & Noble Publishing to take over responsibility for the Clarkson Potter branded book list.
Rodale’s Jeremy Katz has hired Laurie Bernstein to be Editor at Large for the Men’s Health and Sports Book Group. She was most recently at Simon & Schuster. . . Phyllis Henrici is relocating from New York to San Diego to become Director of Bargain and Remainder Book Sales and Purchasing at Advanced Marketing Services (AMS). She had previously been Director of Sales & Marketing at Assouline, the art and lifestyle book publisher and retailer.
In light of its February purchase of the Grove online dictionaries, Oxford University Press has reorganized its own online publishing under Evan Schnittman, who is now VP Online Publishing and Business Development. There have been some layoffs in the realignment. In addition, Laura Dobbins, who was Advertising & Promotions Manager, Young Adult, has left the company.
Speaking of UPs, with MIT, University of California, and Yale squared away, LSU is the most recent university press to hire a new Director: MaryKatherine Callaway. Previously she was Marketing Director for Johns Hopkins UP. Columbia UP is still looking for a replacement for Bill Strachan, who left earlier this year. Bert Davis Associates is conducting the search.
The Whitney has downsized its book division and its Director of Publications & New Media, Garrett White, will be leaving, along with five others in the department. . . George Rubich, VP Finance and Administration for Henry Holt, has left the company. He may be reached at (914) 945-7146. . . Hugh Shiebler has left Barron’s Educational Series, where he was Nat’l Sales Manager.
Jon Anderson, currently Publisher of the Dream Works and Price Stern Sloan imprints at Penguin, is leaving the company, as the Dream Works program will be moving to Scholastic beginning in July. Meanwhile, Eloise Flood will join Penguin Young Readers Group as SVP and Publisher of a new, as yet unnamed imprint. Flood was most recently Publisher of paperback books at S&S Children’s Publishing division.
In a reorganization that divides some special sales functions into adult and children’s, Stacey Ashton and Andrea Rosen have joined HarperCollins as Senior Director of Special Sales, General Books and Senior Director of Special Sales, Children’s Books respectively. Ashton, who reports to Josh Marwell, was at the AOL Time Warner Book Group, and Rosen was Imprint Sales Director for the Crown Publishing Group and the Random House Information Group. She reports to Andrea Pappenheimer. Ken Berger has also joined the company as Senior Account Executive for General Books in the Premium and Corporate Sales Group, after working for Random House for the last 13 years. He will be based in San Francisco and reporting to Marie Hergenroeder. Megan Mayo joined HC in the newly created position of Associate Director, New Business Development Special Sales, reporting to Ashton and Rosen. She was formerly at Watson Guptill. Mark Landau will now report to Ashton and Rosen as will David Sweeney.
PROMOTIONS
Variety reports that Jim Wiatt will soon take executive control of the William Morris Agency and longtime CEO Walt Zifkin will scale back his duties to become CEO emeritus. . . Houghton Mifflin has promoted Eamon Dolan to Editorial Director. He had been Executive Editor.
MAY DATES
BEA and Variety are hosting two media panels: “From Books to Blockbusters,” moderated by Peter Bart, on Friday, May 30 at 10 am; and “Inside the Realm of Hollywood’s Independent Book Agents,” moderated by Jonathan Bing, on Thursday, May 29 at 1 pm. (For a complete list of Hollywood agents and their contact info, click here.)
• The Small Press Center hosts “An Interview with Carole Baron, President of Putnam” on May 6. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt will conduct the interview, which takes place at 20 West 44 St. at 6 pm. Email info@smallpress.org.
• The J. Anthony Lukas Prize and the Mark Lynton History Prize will be awarded on May 8 at the Columbia U. School of Journalism. Winners are Samantha Power and Suzannah Lessard (Lukas) and Robert Harms (Lynton). Incoming J-School Dean Nicholas Lemann will moderate a talk on “The Writer as a Moral Force.” Email ics9@ columbia.edu or call (212) 854-8653.
• May 31 is the deadline for the newly announced James Madison Book Award, a cash prize of $10,000, that “recognizes excellence in bringing knowledge and understanding of American history to readers ages five to fourteen.” It was created and initially funded by Lynne Cheney, and will be presented July 1. Call Elisabeth Irwin at (202) 277-2034.
• The Publishing Division of the UJA toasts Borders Chairman, President & CEO Greg Josefowicz at its annual black tie dinner on May 12. Tickets are $600. Contact Marcy Frank at (212) 836-1448 or email frankm@ujafedny.org for details.
DULY NOTED
Words without Borders: The Online Magazine for International Literature is looking for submissions. It is preparing a “soft launch” of the site by Memorial Day, and a “hard launch” on September 23, 2003. The editors are seeking “short works or excerpts of longer works previously unpublished in English for which we might commission translation.” The main themes include literature from Iran, Iraq, and N. Korea; pairings of translations of contemporary and classic short works or excerpts that are “strongly rooted in description of the same place”; “Landscape, Travel, and Criticism”; and “Suitcase of Books,” titles in English or translation that one should read if traveling in a particular place. “Exceptional foreign children’s books and young adult literature for translation” are also welcome. Email co-editor Samantha Schnee, schnee@bard.edu, or mail to Words without Borders, c/o Institute for International Liberal Education, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000.
• Fredi Friedman of the eponymous Fredrica S. Friedman Agency sold world rights to Beautiful Bones Without Hormones, by Dr. Leon Root (orthopedic surgeon and author of Oh My Aching Back) and ex-Morrow editor Betty Kelly Sargent in a high six figure pre-empt to Penguin/Gotham’s Bill Shinker. Sargent first met her soon-to-be publisher at a party at the Mercantile Library.
IN MEMORIAM
Publishing Trends sadly notes the passing of Helen Meyer, a publishing legend, who led Dell Publishing for many years, and died at the age of 95 on April 21.
A memorial service for publisher and designer Sam Antupit, who died April 6, will take place in the Great Hall at Cooper Union on May 8 at noon. Milton Glazer said of him, “The graphic arts field is not known for its literacy, but Sam was an exception.”
Miranda DeKay held a memorial service for her husband George on April 17 at the Century Association in the Gallery. Tim Seldes was the emcee. Ironically, M. Evan’s biggest author, Dr. Robert Atkins, died the same day.
