PEOPLE
Jonathan Karp has been named President and CEO of Simon & Schuster, succeeding Carolyn Reidy, who died suddenly on May 12. Karp had been President and Publisher, Adult Publishing. As the result of reorganization at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Mara Anastas, VP and Publisher of Aladdin and Simon Pulse, will depart after over twenty years with the company.
At Astra Publishing House, Ben Schrank, most recently head of Henry Holt, has been named Publisher and Chief Operating Officer. Overseeing the adult unit is Alessandra Bastagli, Editorial Director, who was previously Executive Editor at Dey Street Books. On the children’s side, Maria Russo, former Children’s Books Editor for The New York Times, joins as Editorial Director of mineditionUS. Lisa Taylor, formerly Production Editor at Lonely Planet Kids, joins as Production Manager.
Arcadia Publishing has acquired River Road Press, and consequently Scott Campbell, Founder and Publisher of River Road, returns to Pelican Publishing as Publisher. The River Road Press catalogue will merge with Pelican’s.
Charlie Schroeder joins Scribd as Head of Domestic Content Acquisition and New Verticals. She was previously VP, Marketing, Licensing, and Development of Global at Candlewick Press. Liz Edelstein also joins as Director of Original Content Strategy and Operations; she previously created and ran the romance fiction website Heroes & Heartbreakers at Macmillan.
SVP and Publisher Tim Duggan has confirmed that he will be departing his eponymous imprint at the Crown Publishing Group.
Ann Marie Lonsdale has been named Executive Director of the Cave Canem Foundation. Malcolm Tariq joins as Programs and Communications Manager.
At the Poetry Foundation, President Henry Bienen has resigned and Willard Bunn III has stepped down as Board Chair. These changes follow an open letter criticizing the foundation’s June 3 statement and calling on it to make changes in support of marginalized communities.
Kent Wilson, Executive Director of PubWest since 2007, is stepping down from that position on June 12.
Daniel Ehrenhaft, VP and Editorial Director at Soho Teen, is leaving the company.
At Post Hill Press, Megan Wheeler, formerly Account Executive at Simon & Schuster, joins as Associate Publisher.
Dayna Anderson has left her position as Associate Publisher at CamCat Publishing and can be contacted at dayna.anderson20@gmail.com.
Kerry Bogart, previously Editorial Director and Acquisitions Editor at F+W Media and Interweave, has joined Fox Chapel Publishing as Editorial Director.
At The Kenyon Review, Nicole Terez Dutton has been named Editor, succeeding the retiring David H. Lynn.
In agency news…Pam Gruber, previously Editorial Director at Rebel Girls, joins Irene Goodman Literary Agency as Literary Agent. Chad Beckerman, formerly Creative Director at Abrams Books for Young Readers, joins The CAT Agency as Agent. At Jill Grinberg Literary Management, Jessica Saint Jean joins as Literary Agent; she had been Art Coordination Manager at Candlewick Press. Jackie Ashton joins Lucinda Literary as Agent. Hannah VanVels joins Belcastro Agency as Associate Literary Agent. At Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, Tara Gilbert, lately Associate Agent at Corvisiero Literary Agency, joins as Associate Agent, as does Amy Giuffrida, formerly Literary Agent Apprentice at Corvisiero. At Red Sofa Literary, Agents Stacey Graham, Kelly Van Zant, and Amanda Rutter resigned in protest of owner Dawn Frederick’s May 28 tweets.
Laura O’Neal, formerly Editorial Manager for Scholastic Book Clubs’ We Need Diverse Books partnership, rejoins the trade division as Senior Editor at Cartwheel and Orchard. Lori Wieczorek, formerly Senior Editorial Manager for Scholastic Book Clubs, also rejoins trade as Editor for Licensing, Media, and Brands.
Priya Nelson will join Princeton University Press as Senior Editor on June 22. She is presently Editor, Anthropology & History at the University of Chicago Press.
At Sourcebooks, Julie Schremser joins as Human Resource Business Partner and Michelle Mayhall joins as Production Designer.
At Event Network, Laura O’Neal has left her position as Book & Media Buyer. She can be contacted at laura.oneal1417@gmail.com.
PROMOTIONS
At Pearson, Alexa Christon has become Chief Marketing Officer and Cinthia Granzo Nespoli has become Chief Legal Officer. Nespoli replaces Bjarne Tellmann, who is leaving at the beginning of July to take a position at GlaxoSmithKline.
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing is reorganizing under two publishing entities: a trade publishing group for picture books, middle grade, and YA, and a new branded publishing team working on the expansion of preschool titles, beginning readers, chapter books, graphic novels, licensing, middle-grade brands, and IP. Steering the new group is Valerie Garfield, VP, Publisher of Licensed, Novelty, and Branded Publishing; she will, in addition to her current role overseeing Little Simon and Simon Spotlight, lead Aladdin Books. Liesa Abrams becomes VP, Executive Editor-at-Large, reporting to Garfield. On the trade publishing side, SVP and Publisher Justin Chanda will now oversee the editorial staff of Simon Pulse in addition to overseeing Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Caitlin Dlouhy Books, Salaam Reads, and Denene Millner Books.
Ileene Smith is now serving as Editor-at-Large for Farrar, Straus & Giroux. At Macmillan, Marta Fleming has been promoted to Director of International Rights, working on St. Martin’s Press, Flatiron Books, Tor/Forge Books, and Celadon Books. Kathleen McCutcheon has been promoted to Sales Coordinator. Gretchen Fredericksen is now Assistant Manager and Publisher Liaison. Leigh George is now Senior Ebook Account Manager. Anthony Jimenez becomes Senior Sales Analyst; Joseph O’Leary becomes Senior Manager of Sales Operations; and Jackie Waggner is now Director of National Specialty Retail. Catherine Marvin becomes Director of Communications. Melissa Campion has been promoted to Senior Director of Author Events and Services. Elizabeth Catalano has been promoted to Senior Executive Manager Editor for Trade Production Editorial. Additionally, Kristin Sevick becomes Executive Editor at Forge. At Macmillan Children’s, Morgan Kane is now Assistant Director, Publicity. Elsewhere at Macmillan Children’s, Mekisha Teller has been promoted to Senior Associate Editor and Luisa Beguiristain move up to Assistant Editor at Roaring Brook Press; Melissa Warten becomes Associate Editor and Elizabeth Lee becomes Assistant Editor at Farrar, Straus Children’s; and Robyn Chapman is now Editor at First Second.
In the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Heidi Luedemann has been promoted to Contracts Director. Alexis Nixon is now Associate Director of Publicity at Berkley.
In agency news…Tia Mele is now Audio Rights Director at Talcott Notch Literary Services, where Paula Munier has also been promoted to Agent and Storytelling and Content Director and Saba Suleiman has been promoted to Agent. Evan Brown becomes Associate Agent at Transatlantic Agency.
Michael Petranek has become Executive Editor and Manager at AFK and Graphix Media.
At Simon & Schuster, Janea Brachfeld becomes Manager, Independent Retail, Distribution Clients.
Grace Rambo becomes Digital Operations Manager at The Experiment.
At Astra Publishing House, Alisa Trager is now Managing Editor.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Pilar Garcia-Brown has been promoted to Editor.
Alexa Wejko moves up to Editor at Soho Teen, in addition to her current role as Publicist.
Archna Patel has been promoted to Associate Editor of Art History Books at University of California Press.
DULY NOTED
Consortium Book Sales & Distribution has added three publishers for Fall 2020: Agnes & Aubrey in London, Centrala in Poland, and Common Notions in Brooklyn. As of this spring, Ingram Publisher Services provides US distribution and sales for Popular Book Company.
As of July 1, Princeton University Press will be distributed in Australia and New Zealand by NewSouth Books. They are presently distributed by Footprint Books.
Beginning August 1, Lerner Publisher Services will distribute New Frontier Publishing in North America.
KF Literary Scouting has been appointed Adult Scout for Germany’s Hoffman und Campe and will continue scouting children’s and YA titles for Harper Germany.
Red Wheel/Weiser will launch Dharma Spring, a nonfiction imprint focused on works inspired by Buddhism that will release eight to ten titles a year.
The assets of mind/body/spirit publisher Eddison Books have been purchased from The Fisher Company by Welbeck Publishing Group for an undisclosed sum. Welbeck will work with Eddison’s authors on 2020 titles and will publish its 2021 list under Welbeck’s imprints.
Beginning July 1, the Chicago Distribution Center will offer free freight for independent bookstores in the contiguous United States. Under the new policy, a single or combined order across all CDC publishers of 15 or more shippable units to one address will be eligible.
Ebook platform provider Hummingbird Digital Media has been acquired by 360 Media Direct.
Academic publisher Intellect has finalized an agreement to acquire HammerOn Press.
