People Round-Up, Mid-June 2018

PEOPLE

Following the annual meeting vote that restored cofounder Laurence Orbach as Executive Chairman of the Quarto board, CEO Marcus Leaver and Chief Financial Officer Carolyn Bresh have resigned their positions. Former CFO Mick Mousley will act as Interim CFO.

Jon Rosenberg, most recently VP and Publisher at Baker & Taylor’s Silver Dolphin Books, will serve as EVP, Publishing for start-up Curiosity Ink Media. Nickelodeon executive Russell Hicks is President and Chief Creative Officer. The company, based in LA and Salt Lake City, plans to enter into TV, live-action, VR, publishing, and live event production in early 2019.

At HarperCollins, Dan Vidra joins as Associate Director, replacing Alison Smith. Vidra previously worked in content acquisition and strategy with Juke Entertainment. At HarperOne, Juan Milà Valcárcel is now Executive Editor; he joins from Spain’s Ediciones Salamandra. Edward Benitez, previously Senior Acquisitions Editor for Harper Español, has become Executive Editor at Rayo, reporting to Judith Curr. Liz Stein has joined William Morrow as Senior Editor. She previously held that position at Park Row Books. And SVP, Editor-in-Chief, and Associate Publisher Kate Morgan Jackson will leave Harper Children’s on June 29 to work full-time on her food writing and photography. She joined Harper in 1991.

Heather Huston joins HarperCollins Christian Publishing as Senior Director of Marketing, Specialty, with a focus on Thomas Nelson Gift, Zondervan Gift, and Tommy Nelson. Most recently she was VP, Marketing at Rural Media Group. Andy Rogers joins Zondervan as Acquisitions Editor, Nonfiction, having worked previously as Acquisitions Editor at Our Daily Bread.

On October 1, Sharon Parker will depart her role as Chief Operating Officer at Bonnier Publishing Group after twenty years with the company.

At Random House Children’s, Danielle Klimashousky joins as Marketing Manager and Michelle Cunningham joins as Designer, Middle-Grade. Ingrid Beck joins the Crown Publishing Group as Senior Editor, WaterBrook Multnomah; she had been Acquisitions Editor for Moody Publishers.

Roz Parr has stepped down as Marketing Director, Vintage Anchor and Everyman’s Library, after 18 years in that role, and Laura Crisp will consequently expand her responsibilities to fill the new role of Senior Director, Sales Marketing and Business Development, Vintage Anchor. Carole DeSanti has left her role as Executive Editor at Viking after thirty years, but is not retiring.

Sarah Crichton, Publisher of Sarah Crichton Books, will leave her position at the end of the year. Executive Director of Publicity Patty Garcia has left Tom Doherty Associates and can be reached at opattyg@gmail.com. Brendan Deneen, Executive Editor at Tor/Forge, is leaving his position to join Assemble Media as President of Literary and IP Development.

Karyn Marcus, previously Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster, has joined Gallery Books in the same position. At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Milena Giunco joins as Publicist. Most recently she was Publicity Coordinator at Scholastic.

Bill O’Brien joins Outsell as Director of Business Development. He was previously Director of Development at Copyright Clearance Center.

Lauren Kuhn has joined Fortier Public Relations as Assistant Director of Publicity, having worked previously as Senior Publicity Manager at Springer Nature for Scientific American and Nature magazines.

In agency news…Alexis Sattler joined Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency as Literary Agent. Previously she was Assistant Editor at Putnam. Julia Kardon, previously Literary Agent at Mary Evans Inc., also joins in the same role. Sarah Lazin Books has become part of Aevitas Creative Management, and Sarah Lazin joins Aevitas as Senior Agent. Also joining as Agent is former Time Magazine Managing Editor Jim Kelly. William LoTurco, previously Agent at Aevitas, has founded LoTurco Literary, focusing on nonfiction.

At Chronicle Books, Rachel Harrell joins as Designer, Food & Lifestyle. Alice Robertson also joins as Sales Manager, Specialty, moving over from her previous role as Sales Representative at Keena. Additionally, Magnolia Molcan has joined as Managing Editor, Food & Lifestyle. She was most recently Managing Editor at SFMOMA. Cynthia Shannon, previously Marketing Specialist at Goodreads, is now Food and Lifestyle Marketing Manager. Maggie Edelman, previously Designer at 180LA, joins in the same position.

Sarah Jean Grimm, formerly Senior Publicist at Crown Publishing Group, joins Catapult/Counterpoint Press/Soft Skull as Publicity Manager. Katie Boland also joins as Events Coordinator.

At Abrams, Brooke Shearouse joins as Senior Publicist, moving over from her previous position as Publicist at Scholastic.

At Ingram Library Services, Eileen Armour joins as Senior Sales Representative. Most recently she was Children and Teen Services Specialist at Baker & Taylor.

Rachel Crawford joins Naval Institute Press as Production Editor, having worked previously as Production Editor/Coordinator for Springer Nature.

Mary Kate Schulte joins Adams Media as Associate Publicist. Most recently she was Publicist at Sports Illustrated.

At JKS Communications, Hannah Robertson joins as Junior Publicist.

Olivia Bartz joins Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as Editorial Associate, moving over from her previous role as Assistant Editor at Stanford University Press.

At Sourcebooks, Lizzie Lewandowski has joined as Events Marketing Specialist.

At House of Anansi Press, Michelle MacAleese is now Editor. She was previously Editor at Knopf Canada.

Caroline Hayes has departed Barnes & Noble, where she was Manager, Cataloging and Metadata. She may be reached at carolineahayes@gmail.com.

PROMOTIONS

Nina von Moltke has been promoted to President, Director of Strategic Development at Penguin Random House US. Sanyu Dillon will move into the new position of EVP, Director, Marketing Strategy and Consumer Engagement on June 18. Theresa Zoro has been promoted to EVP, Executive Creative Director, Marketing and Public Relations at Random House. Amanda D’Acierno has been promoted to President and Publisher, Penguin Random House Audio Group. At Dutton, Leila Siddiqui moves up to Assistant Marketing Manager.

At HarperCollins, Gideon Weil is now VP, Editorial Director and General Manager at HarperOne. Alison Smith has been promoted to Director, International Sales, Closed Market, and Julianna Wojcik is now Assistant Manager, Global Publishing. Jennifer Civiletto moves to the Harper Group as Senior Publishing Manager. Meghan Deans is now Senior Marketing Director at Ecco. Mary Sasso has been promoted to Director of Marketing for Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks. Stephanie Smith has been promoted to Associate Publisher at Zondervan.

At St. Martin’s Press, Kara Rota is now Senior Editor, having worked previously as Senior Editor and Director at Cookstr, also owned by Macmillan.

Jennifer Abel Kovitz has been promoted to VP, Associate Publisher, Sales & Marketing at Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull.

At House of Anansi Press, Janie Yoon is now Associate Publisher. Alysia Shewchuk is now Senior Designer.

Alex Star is now Executive Editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux. At Macmillan Children’s, Kelsey Marrujo has been promoted to Senior Publicist; Jeremy Ross, to Marketing Manager; and Caitlin Crocker, to Marketing Coordinator.

Casey Ebro has been promoted to Executive Editor at McGraw-Hill Professional.

Stephen Bedford has been promoted to Marketing Director at Simon & Schuster, where Nicole Hines has also been promoted to Marketing Associate.

At the University of Chicago Press, Ashley Towne moves up to Director, Journals Division.

At Ingram Content Group, Lori Bowen becomes Senior Manager, Specialty Retail, Wholesale. Bailey Davis has been promoted to Publisher Engagement Manager for Lightning Source, while Kristal Smith is now Manager, Business Ops Support for Ingram Publisher Services. At Ingram Spark, Josh Floyd moves up to Senior Key Account Sales Manager and Renee Lamine moves up to Marketing Manager.

Sara Wigal is now Senior Manager at JKS Communications. In addition, Angelle Barbazon has moved up to Lead Publicist and Max Lopez becomes New Author Ambassador.

Elizabeth Ireland has been promoted to Sales and Marketing Manager for Catapult and Soft Skull Press.

DULY NOTED

BookExpo and the New York Rights Fair have announced a multiyear partnership for joint management of the New York Rights Fair.

In scouting news: Liz Gately now scouts adult and children’s books for Italy’s Piemme, and Rachel Hecht Children’s Scouting has been appointed children’s and YA scout for DeA Planeta.

Consortium added five new distribution clients effective June 1: Dottir Press, Floris Books, Hazy Dell Press, New Europe Books, and World Editions.

Independent Publishers Group has added eight new clients. IPG distributes Omnibus Press and the American Academy of Pediatrics, while Trafalgar Square handles US and Canada distribution for Did You See The Crocodile?, The Gelofer Press, and NW1 Books. As of July 1, Trafalgar Square will also distribute Aspen Books, RedDoor Publishing, and Perronet Press.

Obvious State is distributed by Abrams as of June 1.

Beginning September 1, Casemate Group will be exclusive book distributor in the Americas for Boydell & Brewer and will work with Cranbury International to bolster sales representation in South America. Boydell & Brewer will consequently relocate its stock from Publishers Storage and Shipping to Books International.

Longleaf Services has added the University of Oklahoma Press as a fulfillment and publishing services client, with titles available beginning October 1.

Mary Evans Inc. will move its primary office to Hudson, NY while retaining its office in the East Village.

Susan Novotny, owner of Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, has formed Novotny Literary Agency with her son, Alexander Novotny.

Down & Out Books has launched New Wave Crime, an imprint that will focus on “diversity of plot, culture, and character, and champion new voices in the crime genre.” First titles are expected in early 2019.