PEOPLE
Liesa Abrams will join Random House Children’s on November 9 as VP, Editor-in-Chief for the new Labyrinth Road imprint, which is set to launch in 2022. She had been Editorial Director at Simon Pulse until earlier this year, when reorganization in the Simon & Schuster Children’s group shifted her to Executive Editor-at-Large. At Ballantine, Chelcee Johns joins as Senior Editor; she was most recently Assistant Editor at 37 Ink.
At HarperCollins, Stefanie Lindner joins as VP of Sales, General Books. She was formerly National Account Director at Abrams. Anais Villa joins Harper Children’s as Senior Marketing Associate; she had been Project Coordinator at Soho Publishing.
Paige Allen joins Ingram Spark as Director. Most recently she was COO of the Horton Group, a web design and digital marketing agency in Nashville.
At Melville House, Carl Bromley, formerly Editorial Director of The New Press, joins as Executive Editor.
At Owlkids Books, Jennifer Stokes, formerly Senior Editor at Kids Can Press, joins as Editorial Director.
At Astra House, Rachael Small will join as Director of Publicity on November 2. She has been Director of Publicity at Europa Editions.
Kalen R. Landow joins Microcosm Publishing as Sales Director. Formerly, she was Account Manager for National Book Network.
After forty years as Executive Director of Poets & Writers, Elliot Figman will retire in January and will be succeeded by Managing Director Melissa Ford Gradel.
Shira Schindel joins Blackstone as Head of Content Acquisitions. She had been Senior Manager, Strategic Content Partnerships at Audible.
In agency news, Amanda Orozco has joined Transatlantic Agency as Literary Agent.
Swanna MacNair joins INKubator Enterprises as Executive Editor, Content. She most recently ran the multiplatform consulting firm Creative Conduit.
At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Yasleen Trinidad joins in the newly-created position of Associate Content Manager, Digital Marketing. She was most recently Digital Content Manager for BlueSwitch.
Wesley Turner, formerly Associate Editor at Imprint, has joined Versify as Senior Editor.
At the University of Chicago Press, Mary Al-Sayed has joined as Editor for Anthropology and History. She was most recently Senior Editor at Palgrave Macmillan.
Jasmine Faustino, most recently Senior Manager at Macmillan Podcasts, is leaving the company to become Managing Editor at Pushkin Industries.
At Bold Type Books, Katy O’Donnell is stepping down as Senior Editor. She will continue to work on editorial projects.
Tiffany Shelton joins Amazon Publishing as Acquisitions Editor for Little A and Skyscape. Previously, she was Associate Editor at St. Martin’s Press.
Robin Wood joins the BINC Foundation as Communications & Marketing Specialist.
At Europa Editions, Tatiana Radujkovic joins as Assistant Publicist. Katie Freeman, formerly Executive Publicist at Riverhead Books, will work with the company for select publicity needs in 2021.
PROMOTIONS
Laura Wilson will become Director, Spanish and Original Content at Penguin Random House Audio on November 2. At Penguin Press, Juli Kiyan becomes Associate Publicity Director/Editor. At Random House Graphic, Patrick Crotty has been promoted to Senior Designer. And at Random House Children’s, Jonathan Morris is now Production Coordinator; Lauren Diaz Morgan is now Associate Manager, Subsidiary Rights; and Jake Eldred is now Senior Managing Editor. At Knopf, Jenny Jackson is now VP, Executive Editor. Allie Merola has been promoted to Assistant Editor at Viking Penguin.
At Writers House, Maria Aughavin has been promoted to EVP, Finance; Albert Araneo, to EVP, Business Affairs; and Cecilia de la Campa, to EVP, Global Media & Licensing.
Ariele Friedman becomes Senior Associate Director of Publicity at Atria Books. Milena Brown becomes Associate Director of Marketing. Jessica Roth is now Deputy Director of Publicity at Gallery, where Rachel Brenner has become Senior Publicist; Rebecca Strobel, Associate Editor; and John Vairo, Art Director. At Adams Media, Katie Corcoran Lytle is now Associate Director of Development. At Scribner, Abigail Novak has been promoted to Publicity Manager and Zoey Cole to Marketing Manager. At the Simon & Schuster imprint, many promotions, including Elizabeth Gay, to Assistant Director of Publicity; and Kirstin Berndt, to Senior Publicist; Amanda Mulholland, Paige Lytle, and Caroline Pallotta, each to Managing Editor; Annie Craig, to Associate Managing Editor; Emily Graff and Carina Guiterman, both to Senior Editor; Emily Simonson, to Associate Editor; and Lashanda Anakwah, to Assistant Editor. At Avid Reader Press, Carolyn Kelly has been promoted to Assistant Editor and Morgan Holt becomes Marketing Manager.
Additionally, in various marketing moves, Rachel Berquist moves up to Adult Library Marketing Coordinator, Amy Beaudoin and Amanda Livingston to Children’s Library Marketing Managers, Saimah Haque to Director of Advertising & Paid Digital Media, and Denise Domeck to Associate Marketing Manager, Multicultural Marketing. Simon & Schuster Children’s has expanded and reorganized their digital marketing department: in the teen category, Emily Ritter is now Senior Manager, Digital & Social Marketing, and Annika Voss is now Digital & Social Marketing Associate, while, in kids’ books, Kate Bouchard becomes Digital & Social Marketing Associate.
At Harper Children’s, Ebony LaDelle moves up to become Director, Marketing and will continue to lead the teen marketing team and the EpicReads brand extension. Elsewhere in that group, Maria Barbo is now Executive Editor; Stephanie Stein, Senior Editor; Megan Ilnitzki, Editor; and both Louisa Currigan and Clare Vaughn, Assistant Editors. Spencer Alben is now Associate Director, Video, and Shae McDaniel, Seoling Dee, and Kadeen Griffiths become Marketing Associates as Shannon Cox moves up to Marketing Coordinator. Courtney Stevenson becomes Associate Editor at Quill Tree Books, while, at Balzer + Bray, Tiara Kittrell becomes Associate Editor and Caitlin Johnson becomes Assistant Editor.
Elsewhere in the company: Samantha Howard moves up to become Senior Manager of Sales Operations, International Sales. Heather Drucker is now Senior Director of Publicity for Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks. Allison Carter has been promoted to Publicity Director for Thomas Nelson’s W Publishing division, while Kimberly Carlton becomes Acquisitions Editor at Harper Christian. At Amistad, Patrik Bass has become Executive Editor. Rebecca Raskin is now Associate Editor at Harper Wave and Harper Business. Hannah Bishop has been promoted to Associate Publicist at Harper.
Bryn Clark has been promoted to Senior Editor at Flatiron Books.
At Lake Union Publishing, Alicia Clancy is now Senior Editor.
DULY NOTED
Kingston Imperial will be sold and distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House Publisher Services, beginning in May 2021.
The Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group will close Imprint, formed in 2014 to focus on branded publishing, new content creation, and the acquisition of commercial fiction and picture books. Six editorial positions will be eliminated on December 1, along with three jobs in the MCPG marketing department by November 14.
