People Round-Up, Early February 2018

PEOPLE

Judith Curr has left her position as President and Publisher of Atria after nineteen years with Simon & Schuster. A search will be conducted for her replacement; in the meantime, Peter Borland and Suzanne Donohue will oversee Atria’s editorial and publishing activities.

Amid many changes at F+W since the departure of CEO Tom Beusse two weeks ago, Steve Madden, VP, Chief Content Officer, is leaving and can be reached at StephenMadden3@gmail.com. Allison Devlin, VP, Director, Book Sales and Marketing, is also leaving and may be reached at agsdevlin@gmail.com.

As reported elsewhere, HarperCollins Group President and Publisher Michael Morrison is leaving the company after nineteen years. As a result, Jonathan Burnham has been named President and Publisher for Harper, overseeing Harper, Harper Paperbacks, Harper Perennial, Harper Business, Harper Design, Harper Wave, Broadside Books, Amistad, and Ecco, while Liate Stehlik has been named President and Publisher for William Morrow/Avon, overseeing William Morrow, Avon, Dey Street, Harper Voyager, and Custom House.

At the American Library Association, Mary Ghikas will officially serve as Executive Director through January 2020, having taken that position on an interim basis last summer.

Rachel Fershleiser is now Senior Director of Marketing for Knopf, Pantheon, and Schocken Books. She was previously Executive Director of Audience Development and Reader Engagement at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Emilia Rhodes joins Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers as Editorial Director, having worked previously as Senior Editor at HarperTeen.

At Sourcebooks, Ann Marie LaCasha has joined as Director of Brand Marketing. Previously, she was Senior Product Manager, Global Marketing at Abbott.

At Penguin Random House, Isabella Biedenharn joins as Senior Publicist. She was most recently Editor, Books for Entertainment Weekly. Heather Job has joined Penguin Random House Audio as Associate Publicist, moving over from her previous position as Publicity Assistant at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. Catherine Mikula, formerly Associate Publicist at Penguin Random House, joins Random House Speakers Bureau as Lecture Agent. And Kelly Daniel-Richards has left TarcherPerigee, where she was Senior Publicist, to launch a new freelance PR firm, DartFrogg Communications.

Andrew DeSio has joined Fortier Public Relations as Associate Director of Publicity. Previously, he was Director of Publicity at Princeton University Press.

Michael O. Campbell is joining the University of Washington Press as Marketing and Sales Director on February 6. He was previously US Sales Manager at Lone Pine Publishing.

Angela Engel has joined Cameron + Company as Director of Business Development. She was most recently Executive Director of Sales at OILO.

At agencies…Joseph Parsons has joined Holloway Literary as Literary Agent. He was previously Senior Acquisitions Editor at the University of North Carolina Press. Elias Altman joins Massie & McQuilkin as Agent on February 1, after three years in that role at Aevitas Creative Management. Going forward, he can be reached at elias@mmqlit.com.

Anna Dobben joins the National Book Foundation as Awards and Relationships Manager. She was previously Publicist at Knopf.

Brittany Leddy joins Klutz as Marketing and Publicity Manager. She was previously Assistant Marketing Manager at Harper Children’s. Shalini Saxena, formerly Editor at the New Teacher Center, also joins as Product Editor. And Jasmine Miranda joins as Marketing Coordinator, Education & Library, moving over from her position as Marketing Assistant at Macmillan Learning.

At Highlights for Children, Jim Colbert joins as Global Content Licensing Specialist. He previously worked in Rightsholder Relations, Special Projects for Copyright Clearance Center.

At Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Alissa Nigro has joined as Associate Marketing Manager. Most recently she was Marketing Associate at Random House Children’s Books. Christian Vega also joins as Marketing Assistant.

At the New York Times Book Review, Amal El-Mohtar will take over as Science Fiction and Fantasy Columnist. The position was previously held by N.K. Jemisin, who is leaving to focus on her own books.

Liz Gorinsky will leave her role as Senior Editor at Tor Books on February 2. She will continue on as a consulting editor for some of her authors and will edit short fiction at Tor.com.

PROMOTIONS

Holly Dolce has been promoted to Editorial Director, Food & Drink at Abrams and will retain her role as Executive Editor. Samantha Weiner moves up to Senior Editor, and Sarah Massey is now Associate Editor.

Bridget Watson Payne has been promoted to Executive Editor, Art at Chronicle Books.

At Black Dog & Leventhal, Becky Koh has been promoted to Publishing Director.

At Scholastic, Aimee Friedman has been promoted to Editorial Director; Anamika Bhatnagar, Associate Publisher, Graphix and Pilkey Publishing; Jenne Abramowitz, Executive Editor; Chloe Fraboni, Senior Editor; Stephanie Peitz, Director, Cross Channel Marketing; and Savannah D’Amico, Special Markets Sales Associate. At Klutz, Caitlin Harpin has been promoted to Editorial Director and Edward Quiceno to Marketing Coordinator.

At Macmillan, John Edwards has been promoted to Senior Director, Mass Merchandise Sales; Talia Sherer, Senior Director of Library Marketing and National Accounts Manager; Christine Jaeger, Director, Barnes & Noble Sales; Patricia Doherty, Senior National Account Manager; Holly Ruck, Senior Manager, International Sales; Catherine Marvin, Senior Manager, Internal Communications; and Susan Carner, Senior Associate E-Book Account Manager. In addition, Alexandra Quill has been promoted to Assistant Manager, Academic Marketing; Tova Rohatiner, Internal Communications Associate; Kara Warschausky, International Marketing Coordinator; and Claire Marie Ochse, Adam Lambert, and Vanessa Torres, all Sales Coordinator. At St. Martin’s Press, Erica Martirano has been promoted to Associate Director of Marketing, while Karen Masnica has been promoted to Marketing Manager. And at Holt, Madeline Jones has been promoted to Assistant Editor.

Jessica Gilo is now Assistant Marketing Director, Lifestyle at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Michelle Nagler has been promoted to VP, Associate Publishing Director at Random House Children’s, while Frances Gilbert has been promoted to Editor-in-Chief of Doubleday and Golden Books. Beth Meister has been promoted to VP, Executive Director of Sales Management and Planning for Knopf, Pantheon, Schocken, and Doubleday. In Penguin Random House’s corporate consumer development group, Kate Rados has been promoted to VP, Consumer Platforms and Kristen Fritz moves up to VP, Executive Editor, Content Marketing. Liza Cassity is now Assistant Director of Publishing for Putnam, Dutton, Berkley, and Plume. At Penguin Random House, Christine Mykityshyn is now Publicity Manager; Sophie Vershbow, Senior Social Media Manager; Emily Isayeff, Senior Publicist; Dhara Parikh, Publicist; Katie Darcy, Publicist, Special Events; and Melissa Sanford and Mary Moates, both Associate Publicist. And at Penguin Random House Audio, Kelly Atkinson has been promoted to Managing Editor, while Ruby Liu moves up to Project Management Coordinator.

Erin Wicks has been promoted to Editor at Harper.

DULY NOTED

Jon Baker has been appointed US nonfiction literary scout for Sweden’s Natur & Kultur.

Aram Fox now scouts for Dutch publishing group Overamstel, including the imprints Hollands Diep, Lebowski, House of Books, Carrera, and Horizon.

ICM Partners has acquired The Sagalyn Agency, following a four-year alliance. As a result, Raphael Sagalyn is now partner at ICM Partners, effective immediately.

McNally Jackson has opened its first Brooklyn location, at 76 North 4th Street in Williamsburg.

IN MEMORIAM

Robert Paris Riger, a publisher, author, and co-founder of Market Partners International, died on January 26 of complications from the flu. He was 57.

Robert grew up in Manhattan and attended Grace Church School, and the prestigious United Nations International High School (UNIS). He graduated from Brown University, magna cum laude, with an AB in Comparative Literature in 1981 and returned to Manhattan to take a job at Book-of-the-Month-Club, first as an assistant and later running its distribution center and eventually, its main clubs. While still in his twenties, he moved to The Doubleday Book Club, to become its president.

In 1990, Robert co-founded Market Partners International, one of the first publishing consulting firms. Among the company’s early clients were Amazon, the printer RR Donnelley and Jim Henson Productions. While working for Henson, he co-authored (with Kermit the Frog) the book One Frog Can Make a Difference: Kermit’s Guide to Life in the 90s.

Deciding it was time to work for a publisher, Robert went first to Penguin, and then for a dotcom startup, SubRights,com. He was subsequently hired by Barnes & Noble to broaden its study guide program, SparkNotes. After six years there, he went back to another publisher, this time Simon & Schuster, where most recently, he was VP & Director of the Pimsleur Language Programs. He was also working with co-author Mike Shatzkin on Book Publishing: What Everyone Needs to Know, which will be published by OUP in 2019. As always, he was contemplating his next book.

In addition to his varied career in publishing, Riger was an advocate for gay rights throughout his life. In 1988, he co-founded The Publishing Triangle, an association of lesbians and gay men in publishing that worked to create support, and community for its members.

Robert is survived by his husband, and partner of 37 years, Richard Duke Piper, his aunt Helen Sanger of Manhattan, his brother Christopher, sister Victoria Phillips and niece Lonni Phillips of West Tisbury, Mass., his sister BZ Hull and brother Max of Seattle, Washington, his sister Ariel Aberg-Riger of Buffalo, NY, his niece Charlotte Hull of California, and his nephew Thomas Lloyd Phillips of Portland, Oregon. He is preceded by his father, the sports photographer, Robert Riger, and mother, the pioneering sports producer Eleanor Sanger.

A memorial gathering will be held for Robert on Friday, March 2, 2018 from 5:30-8 PM, at the Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway between 25th and 26th Street. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Callen-Lorde Community Health Center.