PEOPLE
Elisabeth Watson will join Aram Fox as Scout at the end of August. She is currently Subsidiary Rights Associate at Scribner/Touchstone. Update added to original post on 8/6/15.
Jennifer M. Brown joined Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers as VP, Publisher. She was Children’s Editor at Shelf Awareness.
Karin Snelson, who was previously a Freelance Contributor to the publication and to Kirkus, replaces her.
Ian Singer is leaving his position as VP, Group Publisher at Library Journals and The Horn Book, Inc. at the end of August. Media Source CEO Randy Asmo will serve as Interim Publisher while the company searches for a permanent replacement.
Steven Morgan rejoined Simon & Schuster as VP, Technology. He was most recently Chief Technology Officer at Eversport. Meanwhile, Adam Feifer is now Director, Email Marketing. He was formerly Director of Direct Marketing at Coach.
Theresa Horner joined Scribd as VP, Strategy and New Content. Previously, she was VP, Digital Content at Barnes & Noble.
Mitzi Angel returned to the UK to become Publisher, Adult Publishing at Faber and Faber after working at the US Farrar, Straus & Giroux office for seven years.
Antoinette Ercolano will retire from her position as VP, Regional Buying and Filed Merchandising at Barnes & Noble at the end of August after 25 years. She can be reached at aercolano0@gmail.com. Additionally, Fred Argir was named VP, Chief Digital Officer for e-commerce and Nook. He was previously Chief Digital Officer at Toys ‘R Us.
Andrea Cascardi joined Little, Brown as Executive Editor of jimmy patterson. She was Publisher at Egmont USA until they shuttered the US office this spring.
Mark Thomas joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as SVP, Engineering. He was SVP, Technology Program Management at HBO.
Kathleen Schmidt joined Running Press as VP, Director of Marketing and Publicity. She was Publicity Director for Weinstein Books. Jessica Fromm joined as Associate Managing Editor/Associate Editor. She was previously Assistant Editor at Rodale Books.
Wendy McCurdy returned to Kensington as Editorial Director. She was most recently Executive Editor at Berkley.
Karin Schulze joined Abrams as Senior Subsidiary Rights Manager. She was previously Associate Foreign Rights Director at Crown. Additionally, Raquel Avila joined as Gift Rep Sales Manager, Special Markets. She was Sales, Inventory, and Promotions Manager at the New Press.
At university presses, Eric Brandt joined University of Virginia Press as Assistant Director, Editor-in-Chief, and Humanities Editor. Previously, he was Executive Editor at Stanford University Press. . . Stephen M. Wrinn joined University of Notre Dame Press as Director. He was Director at the University Press of Kentucky.
Jean Christen joined Rose Publishing and Aspire Press as Publisher, Children’s Products.
Christopher Beetham is now Senior Editor, Biblical Languages, Textbooks, and Reference Tools at Zondervan.
Phil Fox Rose joined Paraclete Press as Editor. Mark S. Burrows joined Paraclete Poetry and Mount Tabor Books as Series Editor.
Jill Braithwaite joined Lerner Publishing Group as Group Marketing Director. She was Director of Product Development at Sparkhouse.
At literary agencies, Andrew Nurnberg Associates will open a new office in Warsaw in September, to be headed by Marcin Biegaj. Biegaj was Senior Agent and Sales Director at Graal. . . Martha Millard joined Sterling Lord Literistic. She previously ran her own agency, the Martha Millard Literary Agency. Additionally, Alison Mackeen joined as Agent. She was Senior Editor at Basic Books. . . Linda Kaplan joined DeFiore and Company as Director of Foreign Rights, as well as launching her own division of the company to offer foreign rights representation to small agencies and publishers, called Kaplan/DeFiore Rights. She was most recently Principal of Readmore Literary Management. . . Sarah Levitt will be working as Agent for both Kuhn Projects and Zachary Shuster Harmsworth. She was previously Agent at the Zoe Pagnamenta Agency.
PROMOTIONS
Andrew Rosen took over as CEO of Kaplan after his predecessor Thomas Leppert resigned.
At Simon & Schuster, Sarah Reidy was promoted to Associate Director of Publicity. Jeffrey Salane was promoted to Editorial Director of Little Simon.
Jennifer Leczkowski is now Director, Miniature Editions at Running Press.
Nina von Moltke was promoted to the newly created position of EVP, Director, Publishing Development and Author Platforms at Penguin Random House. Emily Timberlake is now Senior Editor at Ten Speed Press, Michelle Jasmine to Senior Publicity Manager at Random House, and Abbey Corey to Publicist, Partnerships and Special Events also at Random House.
Alana Whitman is now Senior Manager, Integrated Marketing at HarperCollins Children’s. Zondervan promoted Madison Trammel to Senior Acquisitions Editor, Digital, Reference, and Reflective Titles.
Lauren Wein is now Executive Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Ingrid Gnerlich was promoted to Publisher for the Sciences, Europe at Princeton University Press. Additionally Shaquona Crews was promoted to Director of Contracts, Kim Williams to UK International Rights Director, and Steven Peter to Project & Systems Manager.
Greg Galloway was promoted to Technology Director at the American Booksellers Association and Geeta Nathan to Manager of IndieCommerce.
Lerner Publishing promoted Lois Wallentine to School and Library Marketing Director.
Michael Aulisio was promoted to VP, Marketing for Gift Books at Thomas Nelson while AnnJanette Toth was promoted to Senior Marketing Director, Children’s Books and Tommy Nelson Kids.
Jane Rotrosen Agency promoted Christina Prestia to Executive Director of Business Affairs.
DeFiore and Company promoted Adam Schear to Director of Business Affairs.
IN MEMORIAM
Carol Brown Janeway, Editor, Executive and Translator for Alfred A. Knopf on August 4th.
DULY NOTED
The National Endowment for the Humanities announced $1.7 million in grants to enable the publication of 36 nonfiction books.
The Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE plans to award $7 million in total prizes for the development of mobile software producing the greatest literacy gains among low-literate adults. XPRIZE is challenging teams of entrepreneurs, developers, educators, and designers to compete for the prize. More information is available at http://adultliteracyportal.xprize.org/ and http://adultliteracy.xprize.org/.
HarperCollins launched HarperCollins BookLab in Seaport Studios in support of the Seaport Culture District Initiative. BookLab will be a reading lounge and event space for launch events, panels, readings, talks, and receptions from mid-September through late October.
The Rizzoli Bookstore reopened its New York flagship store at its new location, 1133 Broadway, New York, NY 10010.
St. Martin’s Press launched a digital romance imprint, SMP Swerve. Anne Marie Tallberg will be the Publishing Director.
The University of Akron Press close due to university budget cuts. Director Thomas Bacher and two staffers lost their jobs as a result.
Barnes & Noble Education, the company’s college business, officially spun off from Barnes & Noble and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on August 3rd.
EVENTS
Aug 15-31
Edinburgh International Book Festival
Edinburgh, UK
Aug 20-23
Wizard World Comic Con Chicago 2015
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Chicago, IL
Aug 26-30
2015 Beijing International Book Fair
Beijing, China
Sep 1-2
19th Annual International Conference on Electronic Publishing (Elpub)
St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, Malta
Sep 4-7
Dragon Con 2015
Hyatt Regency, Atlanta, GA
Sep 5-15
Bumbershoot: Words and Ideas
Seattle, WA
Sep 9-10
Digital Kids Summit
Children’s Creativity Museum, San Francisco, CA
Sep 13-14
CIANA 2015 Remainder and Promotional Book Fair
Business Design Centre, London, UK
Sep 14-21
Brooklyn Book Festival
Brooklyn, NY
Sep 25-27
Göteburg Book Fair
Gothenburg, Sweden
Sep 30-Oct 4
NINC World
TradeWinds Island Grand Resort, Saint Pete Beach, FL
