People Round-Up, Mid-September 2017

PEOPLE

Mark Warren has joined Random House as VP, Executive Editor. He was previously Editor at Esquire for two decades and is the coauthor of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s memoir, The Good Fight. At WaterBrook & Multnomah, Helen Macdonald has joined as Production Editor. Jim Dassise has left his role as West Coast College Field Sales Manager for Penguin Random House after seventeen years and can be reached at jdassise19@gmail.com.

At Candlewick Press, Susan Van Metre joins as Executive Editorial Director of the new Walker Books US imprint, which will launch in fall 2018. Van Metre has been with Abrams for fifteen years, most recently as SVP, Publisher of Children’s.

At Author Solutions, Mitch Black has been named CEO, effective immediately. He was previously President of MOBI, a cloud-based, managed-mobility software company in Indianapolis.

Dan Moser has returned to Scholastic as Director of Special Markets and New Business. He was previously International Brand Licensing Manager at Disney Theatrical Group. Heather Daugherty joins as Creative Director of Licensing and Brands, having worked previously as Senior Designer at HarperCollins. Gina Kim is now Product Development Manager for Klutz. Julia Eisler is now Associate Manager of Marketing and Social Media; she was Social Media Manager at Grand Communications. Alexis Kuzma has joined as Mass Market Sales Associate, moving over from her position as Special Markets Assistant for Abrams. In addition, Orlando Dos Reis, previously Assistant Editor for Abrams, has joined Scholastic Press as Editor.

Brian Geffen joins Holt Children’s as Editor. He was most recently Associate Editor at Philomel.

At Transatlantic Agency, Samantha Haywood is now President, having bought controlling interest in the firm from co-founder David Bennett. Bennett will serve as Chairman Emeritus, and co-founder Lynn Bennett will stay on as Treasurer. Rob Firing has joined as Speakers’ Agent and Literary Agent; he was Senior Director of Publicity, Communications, and Speakers’ Bureau at Harper Canada. Marilyn Biderman, previously Principal of Marilyn Biderman Literary Agency, joins as Senior Literary Agent, bringing her clients with her.

Steve Kasdin has left Curtis Brown, where he was Director of Digital Strategy, as well as an agent. He may be reached at stevekasdin@gmail.com.

At other agencies: Elizabeth Sheinkman will move to Peters Fraser + Dunlop as Executive Director, Books Department and Senior Agent on October 5. She has been at WME in London since 2012. Rica Allannic has joined David Black Literary Agency as Literary Agent, moving over from her previous position as Vice President, Executive Editor at Clarkson Potter. Wendi Gu has joined Janklow & Nesbit as Associate Agent; she worked previously as Agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. At Jill Corcoran Literary Agency, Julie Tibbott, previously Senior Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, has joined as Agent. Quressa Robinson has joined Nelson Literary Agency as Agent. She was previously Associate Agent at D4EO Literary Agency. Caroline Acebo has joined Brower Literary & Management as Director of Foreign Rights. She worked previously as Acquisitions Editor at EverAfter Romance. At Liza Dawson Associates, Monica Odom returns as Agent, bringing her clients from her previous position at Bradford Literary Agency.

Lisa Corrado has joined IglooBooks, an imprint of Bonnier Publishing USA, as National Account Manager. She was previously Publishing Sales Manager at Guinness World Records.

Tucker Stone has joined Consortium as Client Marketing Manager. He was most recently US Sales and Marketing Director at Nobrow Press. Louisa Brody has joined Two Rivers Distribution and Ingram Academic Services as Manager, Client Relations, having previously worked as Marketing Manager elsewhere in the Ingram Content Group.

PROMOTIONS

At Open Road, Mary McAveney has been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer and Daniel Shemesh has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer.

At Scholastic: Lisa Sandell has been promoted to Editorial Director, Scholastic Press. Michael Petranek is now Executive Editor and LEGO Publishing Manager. At Klutz, April Chorba is now Senior Director of Product Development and Armin Bautista is Designer. Natalia Remis has been promoted to Associate Editor, Scholastic Press/Orchard/The Blue Sky Press.

Kevin Doughten has been promoted to Executive Editor at Crown. At Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau, Caitlin McCaskey has been promoted to Senior Agent Director and Stasia Whalen to Senior Agent. At WaterBrook & Multnomah, Julia Wallace has been promoted to Associate Director of Interiors.

Ben Adams has been promoted to Executive Editor at Public Affairs.

At HarperCollins, Katie O’Callaghan and Stephanie Cooper have both been promoted to Director of Marketing and will work on titles across all imprints.

At Ten Speed Press, Chloe Rawlins has been promoted to Associate Art Director, while Mari Gill has been promoted to Senior Production Designer and Lizzie Allen to Designer.

Lisa Nadel has been promoted to Director, School and Library Marketing at Random House Children’s, while Kristin Schulz moves up to Associate for School and Library Marketing. Stevie Durocher becomes Coordinator of School and Library Marketing.

Tyler Montgomery has been promoted to Content Manager at Ingram Book Group.

Cordelia Calvert has been promoted to Senior Publicist at Liveright.

At Yale University Press, Roland Coffey has been promoted to Publicist.

Bill Finan has been promoted to Director of the Brookings Institution Press, and Yelba Quinn is now Assistant Director.

DULY NOTED

Canongate Books acquired Severn House Publishers from its owner, Edwin Buckhalter, and his family for an undisclosed price.

Kirkus Media has launched a new initiative, Kirkus Collections, to help libraries address the problem of diversity in children’s and young adult literature. Kirkus has partnered with Baker & Taylor, the country’s leading library supplier, to facilitate the free curation service.

Alanna Feldman Scouting has been appointed US scout for Karakter in the Netherlands.

Kaplan/Defiore now handles translation rights for Templeton Press.