People Round-Up, Mid-January 2018

PEOPLE

Jason Rekulak has resigned as Publisher of Quirk Books after 18 years with the company. Brett Cohen, President, will assume the responsibilities of publisher, and the company will conduct a search for a new Editorial Director.

Rachel Chou joins Celadon Books as Associate Publisher. Previously, she was General Manager and Chief Content Officer for Open Road Integrated Media. Sarah Murphy, most recently Editor at Harper Wave, will join Flatiron Books as Senior Editor on January 26.

Anne-Lise Spitzer has joined Philip Spitzer Literary Agency as EVP and Literary Agent. She was most recently VP, Director of Marketing at Knopf, Pantheon, and Schocken Books.

At the University of California Press, Tim Sullivan will become Executive Director in February. He had been Editorial Director of Harvard Business Review Press.

Two booksellers’ associations have named new Executive Directors. Heather Duncan is now Executive Director for the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association. She has worked most recently as Director of Marketing & Events at the Tattered Cover. At the New England Independent Booksellers Association, Beth Ineson takes over as Executive Director from Steve Fischer, who is retiring. Ineson was previously Executive Director, Retail Book Sales, Marketing and Operations at America’s Test Kitchen.

At Capstone, Patricia Stockland returns as Publisher. She most recently served as Publisher for Cantata Learning. Darin Rasmussen joins as VP, Digital Product Development and Management.

John Sellers is Publicity Director, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. He was Children’s Book Editor at Publishers Weekly. At Houghton Mifflin, Brianna Yamashita will join as Marketing Director, Lifestyle & Culinary later in the month. She has been working as Executive Publicity & Marketing Director for TarcherPerigee.

At Workman Publishing, Traci Todd is joining as Director of Children’s Publishing, moving over from her previous role as Editorial Director of Abrams Appleseed. In addition, Sara Corbett joins as Art Director of Children’s Publishing. She worked in the Workman art department from 2009 to 2011 and returns to the company from Penguin Workshop, where she was Associate Art Director.

Hanna Otero has joined Lonely Planet Kids as Publisher. She was most recently Editorial Director at Sterling Children’s.

At Macmillan Children’s, Kristen Luby has joined as Marketing Manager, School & Library. She was previously Marketing Associate at Penguin Random House. Allegra Green joins as Associate Marketing Manager, moving over from Assistant Manager of Brand and Licensed Marketing at Little, Brown Children’s. Morgan Rath joins as Associate Publicist, having worked previously as Assistant Publicist at BookSparks.

Amber Hoover has joined Perseus Books as Director of Subsidiary Rights. Previously, she was Foreign Rights Manager at Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Tim Murray has joined Bonnier Publishing USA as VP, Sales for all children’s imprints. He was most recently SVP, Business Development and Sales at BookShout. Nadia Almahdi is now Marketing Manager for little bee books and Sizzle Press. She was previously Marketing Manager at Bookspan.

Emily Eakin and Tina Jordan join The New York Times Book Review as Fiction Preview Editors. Eakin worked previously as Senior Editor at The New Yorker. Jordan is the former Books Editor for Entertainment Weekly.

Laura Simeon is now Young Adult Editor at Kirkus Media. Most recently, she was Library Learning Commons Director and Diversity Coordinator for Bellevue, WA’s Open Window School.

At Crooked Lane, Jennifer Myers joins as Production Editor. Previously, she was Associate Production Editor at Berkeley.

Amanda Yee is now Associate Managing Editor for The Princeton Review. Maria Whelan has joined Dutton as Senior Publicist. She was previously Publicist at Other Press.

PROMOTIONS

At Penguin Random House, Julie Black has been promoted to SVP, Sales Strategic Planning; Tom Cox, to SVP, Mass Merchandise & Distributor Sales; Kim Shannon, to SVP, Retail Sales; and Jeff Weber, to SVP, Online & Digital Sales. At Avery/TarcherPerigee, Lindsay Gordon is now Associate Publisher, while Anne Kosmoski moves to Publicity Director; Casey Malone to Assistant Publicity Director; and Farin Schlussel to Marketing Manager. Angie Venezia is now Assistant Director of Publicity at Vintage/Anchor, where Jessica Deitcher and Laura Chamberlain have both moved to Marketing Manager. Sarah Stein is now Senior Editor at Penguin Books. At Random House, Caitlin McKenna and Anna Pitoniak have both been promoted to Senior Editor, while Emma Caruso moves up to Assistant Editor. Nate Roberson is now Senior Editor for Crown and Crown Archetype. Jake Eldred has been promoted to Managing Editor at Knopf Children’s. Sarah Grimm has been promoted to Senior Publicist for Crown, Hogarth, Tim Duggan Books, and Broadway Books. At Putnam, Brennin Cummings has moved up to Assistant Marketing Manager. At Random House Children’s, Claribel Vasquez has been promoted to Assistant Manager of Production.

At Flatiron Books, Sarah Dotts Barley has been promoted to Editorial Director, Young Adult; Jasmine Faustino, to Publishing Manager, Senior Associate Editor; Marlena Bittner, to Executive Director of Publicity; Amelia Possanza, to Publicity Manager; Kelly Gatesman, to Junior Associate Designer; and Jordan Forney, to Marketing Coordinator. At Tor/Forge/Tor Teen/Starscape, Theresa DeLucci has been promoted to Associate Director of Marketing and Alexis Saarela moves up to Associate Director of Publicity.

Vicky Williams has been promoted to CEO of Emerald Publishing. Richard Bevan moves up to Executive Chairman of parent company Emerald Group, and founder Keith Howard steps down as Chairman after fifty years.

At Shambhala Publications, KJ Grow has been promoted to VP, Sales & Marketing.

Monica Shah has been promoted to Executive Director of Special Markets at Abrams. Elsewhere in the company, Andy Weiner has promoted to National Accounts Director for Amazon, wholesale clubs, and West Coast local accounts, while Stefanie Lindner moves up to National Accounts Director for mass merchandisers and Books-A-Million.

At Barbour Publishing, Mary Burns has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer, while Shalyn Sattler moves up to VP, Marketing. Timothy Martins, President for twenty years, remains with the company as CEO.

At Graywolf, Casey O’Neil has been promoted to Sales Director and Caroline Nitz has been promoted to Senior Publicity Manager.

Katie Henderson Adams has been promoted to Senior Editor at Liveright Publishing.

In agency news, Stephanie Sinclair has been promoted to Senior Agent at The Transatlantic Agency, while Stephanie Delman moves up to Senior Agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Emily van Beek and Steve Troha have both been named Partner at Folio Literary Management.

At The New York Times Book Review, Greg Cowles has moved up to Senior Editor, Books.

Stephanie Doig has been promoted to Associate Editor at Harlequin, while Michelle Meade moves up to Associate Editor at MIRA.

Elizabeth Ault has been promoted to Acquisitions Editor at Duke University Press.

Valerie Pierce is now Senior Marketing Manager at Sourcebooks.

At Liveright, Gina Iaquinta has been promoted to Assistant Editor.

DULY NOTED

The second annual PubTech Connect, cohosted by Publishers Weekly and the NYUSPS Center for Publishing: Digital & Print Media, will be held on March 6.

Quarto is consolidating their adult UK imprints – Aurum Press, Frances Lincoln, and Quintessence – into White Lion Publishing, with books to begin publishing under that banner in September 2018. The line will be led by Group Publisher Richard Green. Andrew Dunn, Publisher of Frances Lincoln, is departing at this time.

The School of Life Press, an extension of writer and philosopher Alain de Botton’s organization The School of Life, will launch in February. Consortium will handle distribution in the US and Canada.

Beginning July 1, Regnery Publishing will move their distribution from Two Rivers/Ingram Publisher Services to Simon & Schuster. Regnery will continue to handle US sales, while Simon & Schuster will handle sales in Canada and export markets.

Ingram Publisher Services will distribute Gallic Books internationally.

Artbook | D.A.P. is now the exclusive distributor of Lars Müller Publishers in the Americas.

Mary Anne Thompson Associates has been appointed US scout for Greek publisher Metaichimio.

Edmison/Harper Scouting has been appointed North American Scout for Swedish publisher Natur & Kultur.

Filipe Silva, former Associate Director of Latin American and Spanish-language sales at Penguin Random House, is launching Libros in Español, a website selling Spanish-language titles in the US. Silva can be contacted at fsilva@librosinespanol.com.