PEOPLE
Dana Canedy is the newest EVP and Publisher at Simon & Schuster, succeeding Jonathan Karp, who has taken over as President and CEO. She had been the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes since 2017 and was previously Reporter and Senior Editor at The New York Times.
PubWest has named Forté Business Consulting as its interim executive director team, replacing Kent Wilson, who stepped down earlier this summer. Primary contact will be Michele Cobb, who is Executive Director of the Audio Publishers Association.
Niko Pfund, President of Oxford University Press USA, is now President of the Association of University Presses. He succeeds Kathryn Conrad, Director of the University of Arizona Press.
Noreen Tomassi, Executive Director of The Center for Fiction, has retired after sixteen years. Michael Roberts, most recently Executive Director of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, will serve as Interim Executive Director while a national search is conducted for a permanent replacement.
At Highlights, Lece Lohr has been hired as President, Consumer Business. Most recently she was President at Justice.
At Book Highlight, Peter Knox joins as VP, Head of Marketing. Previously, he was Senior Marketing Manager at Wiley. Brian Morrison joins as Head of Creative and Strategy; he was previously Creative Director and Digital Advertising and Marketing Operations Director, also at Wiley.
At Audible, Brad Schwartz joins as Chief Content Officer. He was previously President of Pop Media Group.
April Powers is the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ inaugural Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer. Most recently, she ran her own global inclusion consulting and training firm, First Impression Rx.
Bill Wolfsthal has departed his position as VP at Skyhorse Publishing to work with Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. He can be contacted at bwolfsthal@gmail.com.
At the University of Texas Presss, Dawn Durante will join as Editor-in-Chief on August 10. She was previously Senior Acquisitions Editor at the University of Illinois Press.
At the American University in Cairo Press, Michael Duckworth is the new Director, working out of the Cairo office. He was most recently Acquisitions Editor at the University of Cincinnati Press and replaces Dr. Nigel Fletcher-Jones, who retires this summer.
In agency news…Sandy Lu has departed the L. Perkins Agency to start Book Wyrm Literary Agency, bringing her clients with her. Amy Collins, former President at New Shelves, joins Talcott Notch Literary Services as Associate Literary Agent and Director of Foreign Rights. At Jennifer Azantian Literary Agency, Amanda Rutter joins as Literary Agent for adult, YA, and middle grade fantasy and sci-fi. She was previously Agent at Red Sofa Literary Agency. Kelly Van Sant, previously Agent with Red Sofa as well, joins KT Literary as Agent and Contracts Manager. Also joining KT Literary are Chelsea Hensley and Jas Perry, both Associate Agents. At Transatlantic Agency, Chelene Knight joins as Associate Agent. At the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Saritza Hernández, formerly VP and Senior Literary Agent at Corvisiero Literary Agency, joins as Agent and Jemiscoe Chambers-Black joins as Associate Agent.
Stephen S. Power has left his position as Executive Editor at Thomas Dunne Books and can be reached at StephenSPowerEdits@gmail.com.
Tara Gavin joins Alcove Press and Crooked Lane Books as Senior Acquisitions Editor. She was formerly Executive Editor at Kensington.
Ashley Hearn, formerly Acquisitions Editor at Page Street Publishing, joins Peachtree Publishing as Acquisitions Editor.
At subscription box service Literati, Aubrey Poole, formerly Editor at Jimmy Patterson, joins as Acquisitions Editor and Curator for children’s books ages 0-12.
At Astra House, Danny Vazquez joins as Associate Editor. Previously he was Assistant Editor at MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
At Apollo Publishers, Larry Dorfman joins as Trade Accounts Manager. He has previously worked as Trade Sales Manager for Capstone Publishers.
Jonathan Fiedler joins the Book Industry Study Group as Operations Manager. He was previously Client Relations and Sales Operations Associate at Columbia University Press.
At publicity agency Books Forward, Rhodes Murphy joins as Publicist and Rachel Hutchings joins as Digital Marketing Strategist.
MJ Franklin is joining The New York Times Book Review this summer as Assistant Preview Editor. He has been working as Social Editor for The New York Times.
PROMOTIONS
Jennifer Enderlin has been promoted to President of St. Martin’s Publishing Group. Devi Pillai has been named VP and Publisher of Tor, Tor Teen, and Starscape.
At Dreamscape Media, Catherine Zappa is now Publisher, EVP, Film & Television.
At Zondervan Books, Webster Younce becomes VP and Publisher and Paul Fisher becomes VP of Marketing. At Nelson Books, Jessica Wong has been promoted to Associate Publisher.
Michael C. Wright is now VP, Director of the College Department for W.W. Norton.
Shannon Spisak has been promoted to Senior Director of Global Marketing & Communications at Dr. Seuss Enterprises, where Jenna Marson has also been promoted to Manager of Global Marketing & Licensing.
At Beyond Words Publishing, Brennah Hale is now Director of Public Relations.
In agency news…Elizabeth Bennett has been promoted to Senior Agent at Transatlantic Agency and Mariah Nichols is now Literary Agent at D4EO Literary Agency.
Jen Bouvier has been promoted to Acquiring Editor at Entangled Publishing.
At Simon & Schuster, Lexy Alemao is now Junior Designer.
DULY NOTED
Effective January 2021, Penguin Random House Publisher Services will sell and distribute Catapult Book Group worldwide across all sales channels and for all frontlist and backlist titles.
Ingram Publisher Services now sells and distributes books from Liberty Fund in the US and Canada.
Simon & Schuster now sells and distributes Z2 Comics worldwide.
