People Round-Up, Early February 2019

PEOPLE

Maya Mavjee joins Macmillan on March 1 as President, Publishing Strategy. She was formerly President and Publisher of the Crown Publishing Group.

At Penguin Random House, Donna Passannante has joined as SVP, Marketing & Public, for the audio group. She was, until recently, VP, Executive Director at the Crown Publishing Group. Naomi Kleinberg, Editorial Director of Sesame Workshop Books, has retired and Diane Muldrow, Editorial Director of Little Golden Books, has stepped down as she relocates to the West Coast. Maya Baran joins Viking/Penguin as Publicity Manager; she returns to publishing after taking time off to raise her family and freelance. At DK, Victoria Verhowsky, formerly Marketing Manager at Rutgers University Press, joins as Adult Marketing Manager; Shawn Sarles, formerly Sales Analyst at Hachette Book Group, joins as Sales Manager; and Katie Schloss joins as Brand Manager.

Maire Gorman, SVP of Trade Sales, has left Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Joining the company is Christine Sikule, previously Metadata Manager at Penguin Random House, who assumes the newly-created role of Director of Sales Analytics.

Barnes & Noble VP of Stores Carl Hauch has left the company to take a position as CEO of “a major retail food group.” He had been one of three members comprising the office of the chief executive formed after the firing of Demos Parneros.

Robert Zaffiris has joined Shakespeare & Co. as Chief Development Officer. Most recently he was CFO, HarperCollins International and Head of Corporate Development, HarperCollins.

At Free Spirit Publishing, Kyra Ostendorf joins as Publisher. She was previously VP of Education at Kaplan Early Learning Company.

At HarperCollins Children’s Publishing, Rachel Horowitz has joined as Senior Director, Subsidiary Rights. Most recently she was Literary Agent at The Bent Agency.

Lizzy Mason joins Page Street Publishing as Director of Marketing and Publicity, Children’s and YA. Previously she was Director of Publicity for Bloomsbury Children’s.

Mandy Medley has left her position as Publicity Director at Coffee House Press to join Nectar Literary as Director. Daley Farr joins Coffee House as Publicist; she was previously Bookseller, Buyer, and Events Coordinator at Milkweed Books.

In agency news…Tamar Rydzinski has formed the Context Literary Agency, bringing along her author roster from Laura Dail Literary Agency, where she had been VP, Director of Sub Rights. Carolyn Forde, previously Literary Agent and Director of International Rights at Westwood Creative Artists, joins the Transatlantic Agency as Senior Agent. And Simon Green, Literary Agent with Creative Artists Agency until last spring, has been tapped to head the book and publishing division of Abrams Artists Agency.

Christine Saunders, lately of Christine Saunders Public Relations, joins Disney Publishing Worldwide as Senior Publicist.

At Crooked Lane Books, Terri Bischoff has joined as Senior Editor. She was previously Editor for Midnight Ink.

At the University of Chicago Press, Executive Editor Doug Mitchell has retired after forty-one years.

At the University of South Carolina Press, MacKenzie Fraser-Bub Collier, founder of Fraser-Bub Literary, joins as Publicity Manager. In addition, Ehren Foley joins as Acquisitions Editor. He previously worked at the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office.

Jennifer Murphy has joined the American Psychological Association’s Magination Press as Assistant Marketing Manager for their children’s imprint. She was most recently Marketing Coordinator at Harper.

At Holiday House, Nicole Benevento, formerly Marketing Assistant at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, joins as School and Library Marketing Coordinator.

Ryan Lindsay has joined the Casemate Group as Marketing Coordinator, Specialist Media and Liaison to Military and Professional Organizations.

PROMOTIONS

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Ed Spade moves up to VP, National Accounts, Trade Sales, & Strategy. He will co-lead the sales team with Colleen Murphy, VP of Special Markets, Mass Market, and Product Development.

Diana Baroni is now SVP, Editor-in-Chief of Harmony Books and Rodale. Doris Cooper moves up to SVP, Editor-in-Chief of Clarkson Potter. Lorena Jones moves up to SVP, Editor-in-Chief of Ten Speed Press and remains Publisher of her own imprint, Lorena Jones Books. Hogarth is under new leadership, including Alexis Washam as Editorial Director, Parisa Ebrahimi as Senior Editor, and Killian Buckley as Assistant Editor. Julian Pavia and Hilary Teeman are both now Executive Editors at Ballantine Bantam Dell. At Portfolio/Sentinel, Alie Coolidge is Senior Publicist and Helen Healey is Assistant Editor.

At PRH’s children’s imprints: Melanie Nolan has become VP, Publisher of Knopf Children’s, filling the role vacated by Jenny Brown last August. Janet Foley has been promoted to Director of Managing Editorial at Random House Children’s, where Kristen Depken becomes Editor and Rachel Chlebowski becomes Assistant Editor. Also at Random House Children’s, Kelly McGauley has been promoted to Associate Director of Trade Marketing; Sharon Burkle becomes Senior Art Director; Tara Grieco becomes Marketing Manager; Jena DeBois becomes Marketing Associate; and Sarah Murphy becomes Marketing Coordinator. At Penguin Young Readers Group, Kate Meltzer has been promoted to Editor, Putnam Young Readers, while Eileen Savage becomes Assistant Art Director. Megan Williams is now Managing Editor of Crown Books for Young Readers and Reprints. Samantha Gentry becomes Associate Editor for Crown BYR.

Michele Wells is now VP, Executive Editor for DC Books for Young Readers.

Farrin Jacobs moves up to VP, Editorial Director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

At Sourcebooks, Liz Kelsch has been promoted to Director of Marketing, Nonfiction and Mystery and Amanda Skolek moves up to Senior Graphic Designer.

At the University of Chicago Press, Carrie Olivia Adams is now Promotions and Marketing Communications Director, Books Division. Additionally, Kyle Wagner has been promoted to Associate Editor for Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Rhetoric and Rachel Kelly Unger moves up to Associate Editor for Life Sciences, Cartography, and Geography.

Karly Caserza moves up to Associate Agent at Fuse Literary.

At Gallery Books, Kate Dresser has been promoted to Senior Editor.

Madison Killen is now Digital Marketing Manager, Children’s, at Chronicle Books, where Jennifer Yim has become Marketing and Publicity Coordinator, Children’s, and Jenna Homen becomes Digital Marketing Manager, Adult.

James Melia and Caroline Bleeke have both been promoted to Senior Editor at Flatiron Books. At Macmillan Children’s, Melissa Croce and Teresa Ferraiolo have both been promoted to Associate Marketing Manager and Julia Gardiner becomes Senior Marketing Manager, while Catherine Kramer is now Assistant Manager, Subsidiary Rights and Jordan Winch becomes Subsidiary Rights Associate. Elsewhere in the company, Holly West and Kat Brzozowski have both been promoted to Senior Editor at Feiwel & Friends and Swoon Reads, while Anna Roberto moves up to Senior Editor at Feiwel & Friends. Julia Sooy is now Editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers and Godwin Books. Melissa Warten becomes Assistant Editor at Farrar, Straus Children’s. Jessica Anderson moves up to Associate Editor at Henry Holt BYR and Christy Ottaviano Books. Robyn Chapman is Senior Associate Editor at First Second Books, and Mark Podesta is Assistant Editor at Henry Holt BYR.

At Crooked Lane Books, Jenny Chen is now Assistant Editor.

DULY NOTED

In acquisition news: Chicago Review Press has bought Council Oak Books, a longtime IPG client publisher. Council Oak will become a Chicago Review Press imprint, and its imprint Wildcat Canyon Press will become a series under that imprint. Additionally, little bee books has been purchased from Bonnier by its executive team, CEO Shimul Tolia and CFO Thomas Morgan. Its offices, staff, publishing program, and distribution will remain unchanged.

Graphic Arts Books has rebranded as West Margin Press.

Sourcebooks is launching the children’s imprint Sourcebooks Wonderland, and Regnery has started a Regnery Media division to provide public relations services.

Effective August 1, Simon & Schuster will distribute David Zwirner Books in North America.

Macmillan’s Swoon Reads imprint has signed a two-year television and film development and production deal with A&E Studios.

Dreamscape Media, Midwest Tape’s publishing and entertainment division, will produce and distribute the first line of audiobooks from Hallmark Publishing. Some twenty titles are slated for release, with Nancy Naigle’s The Secret Ingredient launching first.

The MacDowell Colony Board of Directors has elected six new members. They are real-estate executive Darrell Harvey; WQXR personality and pianist Terrance McKnight; editor and essayist Paul Reyes; New Yorker staff writer Amy Davidson Sorkin; MacDowell Fellow, architect, and author Mabel O. Wilson; and investment banking executive Peter Wirth.