PEOPLE
Random House SVP and Editor-in-Chief Susan Kamil has been given the additional position of Publisher of the Random House and Dial Press imprints. Tom Perry, EVP, Deputy Publisher of the Random House Publishing Group, will join her at the Random House imprint and will also become Publisher of the Modern Library. Theresa Zoro has been promoted to SVP, Director of Publicity for RHPG and Susan Corcoran has been promoted to VP, Director of Publicity for Ballantine Bantam Dell.
Ben Loehnen and Jofie Ferrari-Adler have been hired as senior editors at Simon & Schuster, reporting to EVP, Publisher Jonathan Karp. Loehnen was most recently at HarperCollins, and Ferrari-Adler was at Grove/Atlantic. Longtime senior editor Amanda Murray has left.
Helen Atsma will join Grand Central Publishing as a senior editor at the end of August, reporting to VP, Editor-in-Chief, Hardcovers, Deb Futter. She was at Henry Holt.
Evan Schnittman has been named to the newly created position of Managing Director, Group Sales & Marketing, Print and Digital, Bloomsbury Publishing, reporting to CEO Nigel Newton. Succeeding Schnittman at Oxford University Press, David Bowers has been promoted to VP, Global Business Development.
Peter Kay has assumed the newly created position of Director of Digital Marketing and Strategy at Norton. He was VP for Product Development at MTV, and prior to that was at Random House as Director of Interactive Media.
HarperCollins Director of Publicity Gretchen Crary is leaving the company after six years to start a book publicity and online marketing firm, February Partners. Future partners will be announced shortly. E-mail gretchen [at] februarypartners dot com.
John Groton will be joining National Book Network as VP of Sales. Groton has held senior and executive sales positions at Simon & Schuster, Random House, Globe Pequot, and most recently Nicholas Brealey. He will be based in Stonington, CT.
Michael Sittenfeld has joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art as Managing Editor, a position recently held by Margaret Chace, who moved to Rizzoli/Skira. Sittenfeld was Director of Publications at the Jewish Museum.
Kaplan has hired Jennifer Wendell as Sales and Business Development Director. She was most recently Marketing Manager at DK. Also at DK, Lauren Steffens has been hired as Licensed Marketing Manager. She was at DC Comics.
Matt Brown has been named SVP, Scholastic and President of Klutz. He takes over from recently retired co-founder John Cassidy. Brown was co-founder and “Play Czar” of big BOING, LLC.
Abrams Artists Agency announced that Steve Ross, former President and Group Publisher of the Collins division of HarperCollins and Publisher of Crown, is joining the company as Director of the newly formed book division. He may be reached at steve.ross [at] abramsartny.com.
Stacy Boyd has been named Senior Editor at Silhouette. She was editor of feature and custom publishing at Harlequin. Krista Stroever has started as Senior Editor at Harlequin’s Mira. She was Senior Editor at Silhouette Desire.
Lisa Richards has joined Macmillan as National Account Manager, representing the Children’s Publishing Group imprints to retail accounts serviced by Levy, including Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and Target. She reports to Director of Children’s Sales Mark von Bargen. She previously worked for TOKYOPOP, Viz, and Prima.
Charlie and Jeremy Nurnberg, who founded Imagine Publishing and recently sold it to Charlesbridge Publishing, have both joined Charlesbridge. Charlie will be VP, President and Publisher of the imprint, and Jeremy will be VP, Sales. Father and son previously worked at Sterling, Charlie as CEO and Jeremy as VP Sales.
Mindy Chon has been appointed as Manager, International Sales Operations for Random House, reporting to Cyrus Kheradi. She was most recently Assistant Manager of International Sales at Simon & Schuster.
Janet Corson is heading a new venture called Educational Initiatives for becker&mayer!. She was COO and Publisher at Eaglemont. Kjersti Egerdahl has been promoted to editor at becker&mayer!.
Jenny Wapner has gone to Ten Speed Press as Senior Editor. She was Senior Acquisitions Editor at University of California Press.
Reka Simonsen has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s as Executive Editor. She was Senior Editor at Holt Children’s. Ayesha Mirza has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as Marketing Manager in the adult marketing department, in the New York office. She was most recently a marketing manager at Macmillan.
Simon & Schuster Children’s has hired Deane Norton as Associate Director of Sub Rights. She was most recently Sub Rights Manager for Macmillan Children’s FSG and Roaring Brook Press imprints.
Adam Friedstein has joined Anderson Literary Management as an agent. He was previously at Trident Media Group. . . . Jason Pinter will join the Waxman Literary Agency as an agent on August 2. He was most recently a writer, and previously an editor at St. Martin’s and Crown . . . Rachel Vogel has been named Associate Agent and International Rights Manager at Movable Type Literary Group. She was an assistant at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin. . . . Foladé Bell has joined Serendipity Literary Agency as an associate agent.
John W. Byram has been named Director at University of New Mexico Press. He had been Editor-in-Chief and Director of Development at University Press of Florida.
Bess Braswell has joined Scholastic as Associate Director of Marketing, Paperbacks. She was a Marketing Manager at Simon & Schuster Children’s. David Sandler has joined Scholastic as Associate Director of Digital Marketing & Advertising. He was Manager of Marketing and Social Media for American Express’s Establishment Services.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Lots of promotions in children’s books this summer: Candlewick Press President and Publisher Karen Lotz has been named Joint Group Managing Director of the Walker Group, consisting of Candlewick, Walker UK, and Walker Australia, effective immediately. In July 2011, David Heatherwick will step down after more than 20 years as Group Managing Director and Lotz will become sole Group Managing Director. Heatherwick will continue with the Walker Group as Group Finance Director.
Farrin Jacobs has been promoted to Editorial Director at HarperCollins Children’s and continues to report to SVP and Associate Publisher, Fiction, Elise Howard. She was Executive Editor. Also at HarperCollins Children’s, Erica Sussman has been promoted to Senior Editor, Jean McGinley to Director of Subsidiary Rights, and Alpha Wong to Assistant Director of Subsidiary Rights. . . . Casey McIntyre has been promoted to Publicist at Penguin Young Reader’s Group, from Associate Publicist. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has promoted Connie Hsu and Kate Sullivan both to Associate Editor; they were assistant editors. . . . At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Bernadette Cruz has been promoted to Associate Publicist. . . . Lisa Sandell has been promoted to Executive Editor, Scholastic Press.
At McGraw-Hill Professional, Mary Glenn has been promoted to Associate Publisher, Business Management and Finance, from Editorial Director.
Jennifer Banks has been promoted to Senior Editor at Yale University Press, where she was an editor.
At Random House, Karen Fink has been promoted to Publicity Manager, and Maria Braeckel and Kristina Miller have moved up to publicist positions. Moises Martinez has been named Director, Spanish Language. He was Sales Manager.
At Kaplan, Brett Sandusky has been promoted to Director of Marketing. He was Marketing Manager.
DULY NOTED
The LA Times has named Jon Thurber as its new Books Editor. The position was previously held by David Ulin, who was recently named book critic. For the past year, Thurber worked as Managing Editor, print. Prior to that, he spent eleven years as obituary editor.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The Great American Bargain Book Show takes place in Boston August 19–20. In conjunction, ShelfAwareness notes, the New England Independent Booksellers Association, New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, and Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance are jointly sponsoring two workshops: “Remainder Buying—Plain, Simple and Profitable,” and “EESY CHIT: Easy, Effective Strategies You Can Happily Implement Today.”
The 24th annual Goddard Riverside Gala takes place on October 19 at 583 Park Avenue (rather than the past venue of Tavern on the Green), and honors Clyde Anderson, Chairman, President and CEO, Books-A-Million.
The International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations will hold its Annual General Meeting, hosted by the Copyright Clearance Center, in Boston October 25–28.
IN MEMORIAM
Les Pockell died on July 26 after a long illness. He was VP, Associate Publisher for Hachette Book Group, and an author. A funeral will be held on Saturday, July 31, and a memorial service is to be scheduled for a later date.
