PEOPLE
April began with the front page NYT story about Judith Regan’s move to LA – a story whose significance is still somewhat unclear. Then real news came of Scholastic‘s Barbara Marcus leaving in June and being succeeded by Disney‘s Lisa Holton.
Changes at Rodale include the just announced resignation of Amy Rhodes, Publisher of Trade Books, and the earlier resignation of Executive Editor Jeremy Katz (see below). Louise Rice has been named as Rodale’s International Managing Director, based in the UK office. and Jennifer DeFilippi has been hired as an editor, acquiring general lifestyle books and reporting to Margot Schupf. She was at Clarkson Potter.
Mary Ellen Curley has left HarperCollins, where she was Associate Publisher for Resource and Business. She may be reached at CurleyMaryEllen@aol.com. . . . Sally Wood has left her position as President of Pearson‘s Family Education Network and may be reached at sallywood7@yahoo.com.. . . . Peter McCarthy, VP Executive Director of Penguin (US) online has resigned.
Workman has hired Steven Pace, formerly VP of retail sales at Baker & Taylor, as its trade Sales Director. And Chris Pavone is leaving Clarkson Potter to join Artisan as Associate Publisher.
In the literary agency maelstrom, Laura Nolan who left B&N Publishing has joined Creative Culture, the literary agency run by Mary Ann Naples and Debra Goldstein. . . . Curtis Brown agent Ellen Geiger has joined the Frances Goldin Literary Agency. . . . Jeremy Katz, has left his job as Executive Editor of Men’s Health and Sports books at Rodale to join Greenburger as an agent, dividing his time between Pennsylvania and New York. He can be reached at jkatz@sjga.com or 212 206 5621. . . . Gail Fortune has left Berkley after 15 years there as an editor to join John Talbot in a new venture, The Talbot Fortune Agency.
Kathy Schneider, Associate Publisher at Miramax, is following her boss Jonathan Burnham, to HarperCollins. Emily Takoudes, formerly an associate editor at S&S, is joining HarperCollins’ Ecco imprint as an Editor on May 5. Lee Boudreaux joined in February. And at Regan Books, Chris Min Park has joined the imprint as a senior editor, effective immediately. She was at Rugged Land.
Stephen Morrison returns to Penguin as Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher, reporting to Kathryn Court, President and Publisher of Penguin and Plume. Morrison will be responsible for Penguin Trade Paperbacks and the execution of the Penguin Publishing Program. He was most recently at Bloomsbury USA.
Patricia Kelly has become senior Director of Sales as well as Director of NBNKids. Kelly, who was Director of Sales for children’s and special-markets at PGW, will remain based in the Bay Area and will report to VP of Sales, Michael Sullivan.
Larry D. Chilnick has been appointed Editorial Director of the Cleveland Clinic Press, a new commercial publishing arm of The Cleveland Clinic. Chilnick has most recently been a book packager and agent.
Elisabeth Dyssegaard joins Smithsonian Books, as Executive Editor. She was most recently at Ballantine and before that, at FSG. She may be reached at dyssegaarde@si.edu. Also joining the editorial department is T.J. Kellerher, most recently senior editor at Natural History magazine.
Louisa Ermelino has joined PW as Reviews Editor, a new position. Ermelino, most recently chief of reporters at InStyle magazine, has been a reviewer for both trade and consumer magazines. She is also the author of three novels, and teaches creative writing at Columbia.
David Brown joins Atria and Washington Square Press as Publicity Manager. He was at Morrow/Avon.
In children’s books: Jeanne Mosure moves into Lisa Holton’s place at Disney. Brenda Bowen has been promoted to VP, Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, and Lynn Waggoner was promoted to VP, Global Books & U.S. Associate Publisher. Mark Maxwell has been promoted to Director of Sales for Disney Children’s Book Group and Jim Conlin comes over from Scholastic and Borders as Senior Account Executive. Meanwhile, Catherine Daly has left Disney for the position of VP Editorial Director of S&S’s Simon Spotlight. . . .
Ellen Stamper has joined HarperFestival as Editorial Director, reporting to VP Publishing Director Emily Brenner. Stamper was Publisher of Paint Chip Productions, a packaging division of Walter Foster Publishing. . . . Harcourt announced a restructuring of their children’s editorial department: Allyn Johnston has been promoted to the newly created position of Editor in Chief, while Elizabeth Van Doren takes an “enhanced” Editorial Director position. And Kathy Dawson has joined as Associate Editorial Director. She was at Putnam. Jeannette Lawson has been promoted to Executive Editor. . . .
Jennifer Gonzalez has been hired by Candlewick as National Account Manager – she was formerly at Levy Home Entertainment where she was a Senior Account Executive on the Target Account.
Running Press Publisher John Whalen has left and Jon Anderson, who had come into the company late last year, will take over the position. He had succeeded Carlo DeVito, who went to Penguin.
PROMOTIONS
Suzanne Herz, VP Associate Publisher and Executive Director of Publicity for Doubleday Broadway, has been named Publisher of the new imprint she has formed, Flying Point Press. Her publicity responsibilities will be assumed by Alison Rich and David Drake, who will head respectively, publicity at Doubleday and Broadway.
Kate Medina, Executive Vice President and Executive Editor of the Random House editorial imprints, has been named Executive Editorial Director.
Hyperion’s Director of Marketing Jane Comins has been given the additional title of Associate Publisher, while Director of Publicity Katie Wainwright adds responsibility as Associate Publisher for trade paperbacks. National Accounts Manager Sarah Schaffer has been promoted to Director of Sales.
David Roth-Ey has been named VP, Editorial Director of Harper Perennial and Harper trade paperbacks.
Following Emi Battaglia‘s promotion to Associate Publisher, Warner has named Jennifer Romanello as Director of Publicity.
At Rodale, Cathy Lee Gruhn has been promoted to Executive Director of Publicity, and Louise Braverman steps up to Associate Director. Mariska Van Aalst and Susan Berg have both been promoted to Senior Editor
MAY EVENTS
• Women’s National Book Association presents a May 10th panel on Young Literary Agents on Publishing: Changing the Industry One Book at a Time. Panelists include Andrea Barzvi (ICM), David Black (David Black Agency), Jay Mandel (William Morris Agency) Jim Rutman (Sterling Lord Literistic). The panel takes place from 6 – 8 p.m. at Small Press Center, 20 West 44th Street. Meanwhile, as of May, all NY Chapter panel events will be available to members as streaming audio and PDFs. For info: www.wnba-nyc.org
• The Publishing Triangle‘s 17th Annual Triangle Awards, honoring the best lesbian and gay fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2004, will be presented on May 10 at the Tishman Auditorium of the New School for Social Research (66 West 12th Street) from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Avalon Publishing Group, the ceremony is free and open to the public, with a reception to follow.
• FSG’s John Glusman will appear at 192 Books (192 Tenth Avenue at 21st Street) on May 12 at 7 pm. He will talk about his book Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, which Viking is publishing. Call 212.255.4022 to reserve a seat.
DULY NOTED
Marsha Melnick reports a change of address for the offices of Roundtable Press, Inc: 102 Blooms Corners Road, Warwick, New York 10990. Roundtable’s telephone number remains the same, 212-691-0500. The company will continue to handle reprints, revisions, and royalties of its backlist titles. In a related note, Marsha Melnick and Susan E. Meyer announce the formation of Melnick & Meyer Books, a book packaging company to develop new projects. The new company will be located at the same address in Warwick, New York. Melnick and Meyer can be reached at 845-986-1811.
MAZEL TOV
Carie Freimuth and John Hughes announce the arrival of Joseph Freimuth Hughes on March 19th in Denver.
