People Round-Up, Mid-July 2018

PEOPLE

Taneli Ruda joins Wiley as EVP, Chief Strategy Officer. He was most recently Head of Corporate Strategy at Thomson Reuters.

After seven years, Eamon Dolan has left Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where he was VP, Editorial Director of Eamon Dolan Books, following news that the imprint is being eliminated. He may be reached at eamondolan88@gmail.com.

At Random House Children’s Books, Jennifer M. Brown is leaving her role as VP, Publisher of Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, effective August 3. She has held the position since 2015 and will take “some time to determine her next step.”

Beth Dunfey returns to Scholastic as Executive Editorial Director, Licensing, Brands & Media. Previously she worked as a freelance editor. Elisabeth Ferrari joins as Publicist, moving over from her most recent role as Associate Publicist at Little, Brown Children’s. Shivana Sookdeo joins as Designer; she previously worked freelance. And Josh Berlowitz joins as Production Editor, Hardcover, moving over from that position at Abrams. At Graphix, Carmen Alvarez joins as Marketing Manager, Chapter Books and Paperbacks. She was most recently Marketing Manager at Abrams Books for Young Readers.

At Zonderkidz, Jessica Westra joins as Publicity Director, having previously run her own events and media consulting business. Zondervan Senior Editor-at-Large Bob Hudson will retire on September 28 after thirty-four years with the company and plans to play music and “write many more books.” Haley Swanson joins Harper and Harper Wave as Assistant Editor. She was most recently Editorial Assistant at Viking.

In further changes at Quarto, Laurence Orbach – reinstalled two months ago as Executive Chairman – will step down from that position to become Non-Executive Director. Andy Cumming, who joined the board in March, moves up to Chairman and Senior Independent Non-Executive Director. Additionally, COO Ken Fund has been appointed Executive Director of the Board.

Miriam Sontz, CEO of Portland’s Powell’s Books, will retire in January 2019. Following her departure, the company will be led by President and Owner Emily Powell and Chief Operating Officer John Kingsbury.

In agency news…the Jill Corcoran Literary Agency has been absorbed by Transatlantic Agency as part of the latter’s US expansion. Consequently, Jill Corcoran, President of JCLA, joins Transatlantic as Partner and Senior Agent, while Jodell Sadler, previously Editorial Agent, joins as Senior Agent; Timothy Travaglini retains his most recent title as Literary Agent; and Elizabeth Bennett, formerly Editorial Agent, becomes Literary Agent as well. All clients will move with their agents and be represented by Transatlantic going forward. Elsewhere, Latoya Smith has left the L. Perkins Agency and will now offer representation and editorial services under her company, LCS Literary Services.

Ron Charles, longtime Washington Post Book World Editor, will assume a “redefined job” at the paper that will allow him to focus on writing about books. Succeeding him as Book World Editor is Stephanie Merry, previously Culture Reporter for the Style section.

PROMOTIONS

At Scholastic, Erin O’Connor moves up to Senior Director, Production; Elizabeth Krych, to Associate Director, Production; and Gabriel Rumbaut, Production Editor and Chief Copyeditor. Ashley Cooke is now Associate Marketing Manager. Elsewhere in the company, Jackie Rubin is now Senior National Accounts Manager, while Alan Anderson moves up to Metadata and Efficiencies Coordinator and Maeve Norton has been promoted to Senior Designer, Trade Fiction.

At Graphix, Phil Falco has been promoted to Creative Director and Cassandra Pelham Fulton has been promoted to Executive Editor.

At Coffee House Press, Mandy Medley moves up to Publicity Director, while Nica Carillo has been promoted to Marketing and Sales Manager.

Keely Boeving has been promoted to Agent at WordServe Literary.

At Random House Children’s Books, Aisha Cloud has been promoted to Senior Publicity Manager, while Allison Judd moves up to Associate Publicity Manager. Nina Shield is now Senior Editor at TarcherPerigee and Avery.

Lauren Lauzon is now Marketing Associate at William Morrow. At Harper, Sarah Haugen has been promoted to Associate Editor.

At Grand Central, Kamrun Nesa moves up to Associate Publicist.

DULY NOTED

In scouting news: Alanna Feldman Scouting is now US scout for Germany’s Hoffman Und Campe. KF Literary Scouting has been appointed YA and children’s scout for Record in Brazil and for Urano in Spain and Latin America. JMH Scouting now scouts for France’s Editions du Seuil. And Mary Anne Thompson Associates has been named US scout for Albatros Media in the Czech Republic.

Princeton University Press has launched an audiobook division, PUP Audio, to be overseen by digital and audio publisher Kim Williams. The division will work closely with the UK-based production company Sound Understanding, which specializes in nonfiction.

Effective January 2019, Microcosm Publishing will begin self-distributing, handling most accounts through its own website and internal sales team. It had been distributed by PGW/Ingram and Amazon. Microcosm has hired Traveler’s West, Como, and Fuiji as field sales reps.

Casemate Group will begin distributing Italian publisher Gremese Editore, with Casemate IPM handling distribution in North America and Casemate Art in the UK, Europe, and worldwide.

Rowman & Littlefield has acquired Sarasota-based Pineapple Press, which specializes in “all things Florida,” and which will become an imprint of Globe Pequot Press. Ingram Publisher Services has stopped sales and distribution of the press’s books, with the National Book Network handling both roles as of July 14. Ingram’s CoreSource will continue to manage Pineapple Press’s ebooks.