People
Latest dope on AOLTWP: with funding tight, Perseus is said to be out of the running, while Random, which raised some capital recently and is looking for a deal, is the likeliest purchaser. Meanwhile, in the latest reshufflings: RH Value Publishing’s President Lynn Bond has left the company, following in the wake of the three executives who were downsized last month. She will be replaced by Sheryl Stebbins, who was VP, Publisher for the RH Information Group. Jeanne Kramer has been promoted into Stebbins’ position. John Pearce, Executive Editor at Random House of Canada, has also left the company. He may be reached at jrpearce@sympatico.ca.
Random is keeping mum about the number of employees who have taken its early retirement package, but sources tell us that most come from Westminster. In New York, Anne McCormick, longtime Sub. Rights Manager at Knopf, is one who has decided to open the “window of opportunity” package offered in March. She leaves May 30 and may be reached at ahmathome@aol.com. Her successor is Victoria Gerken, moving from the RH Rights Department. And at Random/Ballantine, Nicole Bond moves over from Maria Campbell Associates to become Foreign Rights Manager for the Random list. Rachel Kind handles Ballantine foreign rights and both report to Claire Tisne.
Bill Rosen, VP Executive Editor at The Free Press, has left the company and is reachable at jandbrosen@patmedia.net. . . Michael Murphy, most recently at Calloway and CDS, has gone to F&W as Sales Director. . . Andrew Smith has been hired as Candlewick’s VP of Sales. He replaces Tammy Johnston, who left Candlewick in February after eight years with the company. Smith was most recently at Random House Children’s. Carol Roeder, another vet of children’s publishing (at S&S), has been named EVP International Publishing & Global Packaging Sales for Intervisual Publications in LA. She will work out of NY. Intervisual continues to look for a CEO, to be based in California.
Columbia U.’s National Arts Journalism Program (NAJP)’s new research fellowships include Bill Goldstein, currently Books Editor for WNBC and The New York Times on the Web, and Laurie Muchnick, Book Editor at Newsday. Speaking of Columbia U., ex CUP Director Bill Strachan has been named Executive Editor at Hyperion.
Kate Hartson announced the formation of new publishing house Yorkville Press, where she will be both President and Publisher. She held editorial positions at Ballantine, Bantam, and Random Value, and most recently at Time Life Books.
In agency news: Amy Berkower has been named President and CEO of Writers House. She replaces Al Zuckerman, who becomes Chairman. . . Linda Loewenthal, previously Editor- in-Chief of Harmony, has moved to the David Black Agency and can be reached at lloewenthal@dblackagency.com.
As noted elsewhere, Andrew Martin has been named VP and Publisher of Sterling. He was most recently SVP, Assoc. Publisher of the Crown Publishing Group. Meanwhile, Crown has hired Jed Donahue, who has been working at Regnery Publishing since 1997, as an editor for their Forum imprint. And speaking of conservative, Brad Miner has been named editor of Bookspan’s newest club, a rival to Eagle Publishing’s Conservative Book Club.
Ilan Yeshua, CEO of Encyclopedia Britannica, is leaving EB to return to Israel, according to the tom-toms. . . Claire Griffin has gone to John Wiley as Marketing Director. She was previously at NYU Press. . . HarperCollins‘s sub rights department has a new Manager: Jim Geraghty, formerly of Viking and Random. He replaced Mary Beth Guimaeres, who will move with her husband to San Diego. . . Wendy Hubbert has left Tarcher/ Putnam, where she was Senior Editor.
Clive Priddle, who opened the US office of HarperCollins’ Fourth Estate imprint, will move to PublicAffairs as Executive Editor, succeeding Paul Golob, who moved to Times Books. Harper announced that Courtney Hodell will relocate back to NYC from HarperCollins UK to become Editorial Director of Fourth Estate US. Hodell was Publishing Director of Fourth Estate UK since 2001.
Still in the British-publishing-in-NY vein: Patricia O’Hare has been appointed to the newly created position of President of The Nicholas Brealey Publishing Group North America. She was most recently VP Business Development at NBN. And Joan Brookbank (jb@merrellpublishersusa.com) has been named US Director of Merrell Publishers.
Steven Oppenheim joins the Penguin Group as VP and Director of Publicity for G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Riverhead Books, reporting to Marilyn Ducksworth. Previously he ran Oppenheim Communications. He replaces Mi Ho Cha. In other Penguin news, Grosset & Dunlap and PSS have merged, with Bonnie Bader as Editorial Director, reporting to Debra Dorfman. Jane O’Connor remains Editor-at-Large and Kelli Chipponeri has been promoted to Senior Editor of the combined group. Nadine Topalian, previously at Dial, has been named Senior Managing Editor. Grosset will focus on series and licenses, and PSS on novelty and holiday-related books as well as Mad Libs and Wee Sing.
Cleo Coy, known to many from her days at Booksmith, Walden, and more recently Learningsmith, is now a freelance editor. Email cleocoy@adelphia.net or call (561) 393-3590 (in Boca Raton, FL).
June Dates
The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) celebrates the 4th Annual Literary Magazine Fair at Housing Works Used Book Café (see article) on June 15. Contact Katherine Sarkis at (212) 741-9110 x 12.
• Poets House’s Eighth Annual Poetry Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge takes place Monday, June 16 at 6:30 pm. Bob Holman will MC, and Galway Kinnell, Grace Paley, and Quincy Troupe are among those who will take part in the walk. Go to www.poetshouse.org.
Duly Noted
Publishing Trends has learned that PW’s ABC audit data for the six months ending 12/02 shows a 5.5% decline in total circulation, to 27,363. Publishers and agents are down over 7%; booksellers are down over 6% in the six-month period. Libraries are steady at 9,247. Publisherslunch.com (which is free) has reached a circulation of just over 19,000.
• Jack Macrae and his wife Paula Cooper celebrated the opening of their idiosyncratic bookstore, 192 Books (at 192 10th Avenue) with a champagne reception on May 21. In keeping with their plan that the inventory would reflect “a dialogue between art and literature,” guests included Wally Shawn, Paul Auster, Roger Angell, Calvin Tompkins, and Alastair Reid. Artists included Claes Oldenburg and Wayne Gonzales. Also there was Kate Levin, NYC’s Commissioner of Culture. There will be regular author appearances, with themed exhibitions every month. Go to www.192books.com.
• Kathy Parker, co-creator of Barney, and Phil Parker, Barney composer, are back. After an absence following their departure from the Lyons Group, they have founded Marsupial Media, and have completed the development phase of a preschool TV series, Pockets ’n Play, addressing preschool kids’ need for guided physical activity and motor skill development. John Gildea, ex-Hasbro executive, is also on board. They tell PT they are looking for the ideal partners — for print and television — for this worldwide property. Contact John Gildea at johngildea@cox.net or (401) 885-0653.
Parties
There were star-studded events in New York this May, including the UJA gala honoring Borders’ Greg Josefowicz; Larry Ashmead’s retirement party, which made its way into Liz Smith’s column; and Newmarket’s Four Seasons party for Anne Ford, which drew Michael Bloomberg, among others. Another interesting confluence of bold-facers occurred on May 19: the memorial service for Leonardo Mondadori, held at the Lotos Club, attracted a cosmopolitan group including speakers Diane Von Furstenburg, Clive Davis, Michael Kennedy, Mort Janklow, and Alberto Vitale, and attendees including Peter Olson, Arnold Scaasi, Susan Moldow, Michael Lynton, and Sonny Mehta.
Mazel Tov
To Ivan Held and Patricia Falvo Held, parents of George Henry, born May 13.
