PEOPLE
Jean Feiwel, Senior VP and Publisher is leaving Scholastic at the end of October after 22 years with the company. Trade Sales Director Jack Perry, who came to Scholastic from Sourcebooks last year, is also leaving. Ann Marie Resnick has been hired for the new position of VP, Marketing and Promotion in the book club division. She was VP, Marketing at Columbia House.
Gene Brissie has left Kensington, where he was Editor in Chief of Citadel Press, for The Lyons Press, where he is Associate Publisher. He may be reached at 203.458.4656 or Eugene.Brissie@globepequot.com.
Carlo de Vito has left Penguin where he founded Chamberlain Brothers, and may be reached at CDdeVito2@aol.com.
Garrett White has been hired as the new Programs Coordinator at the New York office of the American Academy in Rome. His responsibilities include managing Rome Prize Competition and the Publications Program, and overseeing the Academy website. White is the former Director of Publications at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
David Wilk, Senior VP of Client Services, has left CDS, following its purchase by the Perseus Books Group. He has been named VP of Strategic Business Development at Resolution, Inc. based in Vermont and will serve as Resolution’s liaison to the book industry.
Willa Perlman, who has left The Cheyenne Group, has announced the formation of a new firm, Ligature Partners, which will provide executive recruitment and consulting services.
The Collins McCormick Literary Agency is splitting up, with each principal going his or her separate ways. . . . Sophia Seidner has joined Judith Ehrlich Literary Management as an agent. She had worked for the erstwhile IMG Literary, and is the Managing Editor for Swink.
Martha Reddington has been named VP, Director of Sales & Marketing at Federal Street, a division of Merriam Webster. She has previously worked in special sales at HarperCollins and S&S, and most recently was a certified consultant for ACT!, a contact database management program.
BJ Gabriel has gone from S&S to Oxford U. Press as Director of Trade Sales, assuming the position vacated by Tom Willshire, who went to Continuum. Longtime Subsidiary Rights Manager Marjorie Mueller has left OUP and may be reached at Margie.mueller @gmail.com.
Bill Strachan has left Hyperion, where he was Executive Editor, and may be reached at 212.924.4885. Brenda Copeland has left Atria for Hyperion, taking the place of Mary Ellen O’Neill who went to Collins as Publisher of the Wellness and Lifestyle categories.
Elizabeth Viscott Sullivan will become Senior Editor for Collins Design, another Collins imprint, beginning October 24. She will report to Marta Schooler, VP and Publisher.
Lisa Herling, HarperCollins’ SVP of Communications, is leaving the company at the end of October, according to CEO Jane Friedman, who announced her resignation “with deep regret.” Herling has been at HC for seven years.
Rubin Pfeffer has joined Simon & Schuster as SVP and Publisher for Children’s. He was at Harcourt for 26 years and has been Chief Creative Officer at Pearson Education since 2001. Mara Anastas has moved to S&S Children’s as VP, Sales and Subsidiary Rights. She was Director of Sales at Harper Children’s, but has been at S&S previously. Both Pfeffer and Anastas report to Rick Richter. Also going to S&S Children’s from Harper at Mary McAveney, as VP Marketing, and Karin Paprocki, as Art Director at Aladdin.
Ileene Smith, formerly VP and Senior Editor at Random House, has been named Editor-At-Large at Yale University Press. . . . Amy Scheiber has left The Free Press for Counterpoint. . . . David Highfill joined Morrow as Executive Editor, reporting to Lisa Gallagher. He was previously at Putnam.
Daniel Slager has left Harcourt to become Editor in Chief of Milkweed Editions. He joins Managing Director Hilary Reeves at the nonprofit literary publisher. Before joining Harcourt, he was an editor at Grand Street.
UK packager Brown Reference has announced that Roe Hollander has joined the company as its US representative.. . . . The National Book Foundation has hired Leslie Shipman, previously Director of The Bronx Writers’ Center, as Senior Program Officer.
PROMOTIONS
Disney‘s Children’s Book Group has announced the following promotions: At Hyperion Books for Children, Executive Editor Donna Bray moves up to Editorial Director. The Disney Press and Disney Editions lines will be consolidated under Wendy Lefkon, now Editorial Director. And Victoria Saxon has been promoted to Executive Editor, overseeing feature animation and classic characters. All three will report to Disney Children’s Editor in Chief Brenda Bowen.
Following on Liz Perl‘s move to Rodale, Penguin announced that Craig Burke has been promoted from Director to VP of Publicity for the Berkley Publishing Group, NAL, Perigee/HPBooks, and Riverhead Trade Paperbacks, reporting to Rick Pascocello. Patrick Nolan has been named Marketing Director for Perigee/HP, PHP, Portfolio, and Sentinel, in addition to his current role as Director of trade paperback sales. And Rick Pascocello has been promoted to Marketing Director for Berkley/NAL and Riverhead Trade paperbacks. He was VP of advertising and promotion for Berkley/NAL.
Don Weisberg names Jaci Updike, a longtime, tremendously well-regarded Sales Group VP, the new Director, Random House Adult Sales, effective immediately.
Valerie Garfield has been promoted to Vice President Publisher, Simon Spotlight and Little Simon, with the oversight of the Simon Spotlight, Little Simon, Libros Para Niños, and Little Simon Inspirations imprints. She was formerly Vice President, Editorial Director of Little Simon & Little Simon Inspirations.
Warner Books has formed the Warner Wellness imprint and named Diana Baroni to head the unit as Editorial Director.
And at the NYTBR, longtime copy editor David Kelly has become a preview editor, working on some fiction and a wide range of nonfiction. Jennifer Schuessler will also join the group as a preview editor. She was at the Boston Globe, and will oversee the weekly back-page essay and cover such areas as philosophy, religion, economics, and fiction
NOVEMBER EVENTS
“Making Books Happen,” The American Book Producers Association conference, takes place on November 9 at the Players Club. This year’s MC and keynote is PW Editor Sara Nelson and speakers include Rodale’s Tami Booth Corwin, Perseus CEO David Steinberg, Chronicle‘s Jack Jensen and Scholastic’s Lisa Holton For information go to www.abpaonline.org.
The winner of the 2005 Thurber Prize will be announced in a ceremony at the Algonquin Hotel in New York on November 14. Finalists are Jon Stewart, Andy Borowitz and Firoozeh Dumas. For more information, contact Emily Swartzlander at Thurber House, eswartzlander@thurberhouse.org, 614.464.1032 X. 11
The National Book Awards take place on November 16 at the Marriott Marquis in New York.
DULY NOTED
Morehouse Publishing and Living The Good News, both previously owned by Continuum Publishing International, have been sold to Church Publishing Incorporated, the official publisher of worship materials for the Episcopal Church in the United States.
HarperCollins Children’s Books announced that Joanna Cotler Books, an imprint of the company, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a silent auction and benefit on Tuesday, October 25, 2005 at Housing Works Used Book Café in New York City.
