PEOPLE
At Scholastic, Rose Else-Mitchelle rejoins as President, Education Solutions and will begin leading a combined education solutions group on June 1. Current President Greg Worrell will continue to advise after the transition until his retirement in December 2021.
Carrie Bloxson has been appointed VP of Diversity and Inclusion by Hachette Book Group, beginning February 1. She served most recently as Interim CEO and CMO of DoSomething.org; previously, she was VP of Marketing at HarperCollins. Effective January 20, Jayme Boucher joins the Hachette Speakers Bureau as Director. She worked previously as Executive Agent Director at Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau.
Hadi Taleb, previously a consultant for the company, joins Highlights as VP, Business Operations and Strategic Planning, Saúl Jimenez has joined in the newly-created role of Senior Director of Creative. Previously, he was Creative Director of Justice.
Christian Trimmer, most recently Editorial Director at Holt Children’s, has been tapped as Head of the revitalized MTV Books. The imprint will publish in partnership with Simon & Schuster, under the branded publishing group of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. Nadia Almahdi, formerly Marketing Manager at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, joins Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing as Senior Marketing Manager for Digital and Social Marketing. Amara Hoshijo joins Saga Press as Editor; she had been Editor and Rights Manager at Soho Press.
Crystal Hardison joins Harper Christian as Director of Partner Relationships. LaTasha Estelle and Shawn LeBar will lead divided sales teams for indie retail channels at Harper Christian and Harper Focus, with Estelle promoted to Sales Director, ABA Indies and Libraries and LeBar joining on January 24 as Sales Director, CBA Indies. LeBar was most recently Sales Manager at Christian Art Gifts. Sarai Pegram joins HarperCollins as Web Developer, having worked most recently as Front-End Developer/Designer at Hachette. And Natashya Wilson, Executive Editor and Editorial Director at Inkyard Press, has left the company.
At Independent Publishers Group, Ilene Schreider, formerly Senior Sales Manager at Sourcebooks, joins as Director, Special Sales.
At LMBPN Publishing, Robin Cutler joins as President of Worldwide Publishing. She was most recently Director of IngramSpark, from which she retired last month.
Amy Borlin, lately of PepsiCo, joins BookSource as Director of Sales, and Brian DeGroff, formerly of Sensient Technologies Corporation, joins as Director of IT.
At Skybound Entertainment, Arune Singh, previously VP of Marketing at BOOM! Studios, joins as Director of Brand for Editorial.
At North South Books, Riky Stock has joined as Managing Director. She was previously Head of the German Book Office in New York and represented the Frankfurt Book Fair in the US; that office has since been closed.
Peter Perez joins the University of North Carolina Press as Director of Public Relations and Communications. He was formerly Director, Public Relations and Communications at the University of California Press. Gina Mahalek, Director of Publicity, has retired and can be contacted at gina_mahalek@unc.edu.
Matt Johnson has joined Kensington Publishing as Associate Director of Library and Indie Bookstore Marketing. Previously, he worked as Associate Director and Senior Field Manager of Administration, Marketing, and Operations at Macmillan.
At Candlewick Press, Art Director Sherry Fatla has retired.
In agency news…Jamie Cowen takes over as Managing Director of The Ampersand Agency, succeeding founder Peter Buckman, who will become chairman and maintain his list of clients. Max Alexandre joins Westwood Creative Artists as Literary & Podcast Agent. Most recently he was Co-Founder and CEO of Gramercy Media. Andrea Walker, formerly Agent at Olswanger Literary, joins Azantian Literary Agency as Agent. Jade Wang-Baxter, previously Junior Agent at Massie & McQuilkin, is joining Frances Goldin Literary Agency as Associate Agent. At Root Literary, Samantha Fabien joins as Literary Agent; she was previously Literary Agent and International Rights Manager at Laura Dail Literary Agency. Author Lisa Amstutz joins Storm Literary Agency as Associate Agent. Stefanie Molina, most recently Senior Editor for the Brink Literacy Project, joins Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency as Associate Agent. Alice Fugate joins the Joy Harris Literary Agency as Associate Agent; she was previously Associate Agent at Trident Media Group. At Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Paige Terlip joins as Associate Agent. Joy Fowlkes joins The Gernert Company’s LA office as Podcast Agent; previously, she was Director of Podcast Development for Rebel Girls. Isabel Kaufman joins Fox Literary as Agent.
Mallory Hyde joins BenBella Books as Senior Marketing Manager. She was previously Marketing Specialist at Sourcebooks.
At Zando, Quynh Do, most recently Editor at W.W. Norton, joins as Senior Editor.
Kate Dresser joins Putnam as Senior Editor. She was formerly Senior Editor at Gallery Books.
At Sourcebooks, Wendy McClure, formerly Editorial Manager at Albert Whitman & Company, joins as Senior Editor for Sourcebooks Fire, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, and Sourcebooks Young Readers. Amy Hoidas joins as Royalty Associate. Emily Luedloff joins as Library Marketing Associate.
At Henry Holt, Ashley Lau joins as Senior Designer for Marketing.
Joeth Zucco joins the University of Washington Press as Senior Project Editor; she had been Senior Project Editor at the University of Nebraska Press. Belle (Bom) Kim joins as Marketing Manager.
Madeline Jones joins Algonquin Books as Editor on January 25. Most recently she was Associate Editor at Henry Holt. Chuck Adams has retired from his position as Executive Editor and can be reached at cfletcheradams@gmail.com.
At Phaidon Press, Alex Coumbis joins as Publicity Manager. Kate Greenberg has left her position as Publicity Director.
Selilah White, previously Publicist at Melville House, joins Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull Press as Publicist.
Sydney White joins Getty Publications as Publicity Coordinator.
At The New York Times, Elizabeth A. Harris has been named Publishing Reporter and will move over from Culture to Books.
PROMOTIONS
David Drake has been promoted to President of Crown, and Gillian Blake becomes Publisher. Kara Welsh is now President of the newly-renamed Ballantine Books, which comprises Ballantine, Bantam, Dell, and Delacorte, while Jennifer Hershey is now Publisher. Chris Jackson has been promoted to EVP, Publisher, One World and RocLit 101. Within the Random House Publishing Group, Scott Shannon, EVP and Publisher of Del Rey, expands his role to become Director, Strategy as well. Tricia Narwani is now Editor-in-Chief at Del Rey, and Keith Clayton has moved up to VP and Publishing Director, Licensed Publishing. At Penguin Books, Patrick Nolan has become Publisher, and Viking Editor-in-Chief Andrea Schulz now serves as Editor-in-Chief for that imprint as well. Meg Leder becomes Editorial Director of Penguin Life, where Amy Sun moves up to Editor. At the Penguin Publishing Group, Liza Cassity has been promoted to Director, Marketing Strategy and Operations. At Penguin Random House, Kaiulani “Lani” Williams is now Director of Pre-K–12 Educational Marketing. Jennifer Kelly has been promoted to Art Director at Dial Books for Young Readers. Scott Gould becomes Associate Director, Business Development for Penguin Random House Publisher Services. At Viking Penguin, Julia Rickard becomes Associate Publicist, Gretchen Schmid becomes Associate Editor, and Nidhi Pugalia becomes Assistant Editor. At Random House Children’s, Tom Marquet is now Managing Editor, Digital and Bess Schelper Sampson has been promoted to Copy Editor. Samira Iravani becomes Senior Designer at Penguin Young Readers. At Dutton, Stephanie Kelly becomes Senior Editor and Cassidy Sachs is now Associate Editor. For Dutton/ Plume, Natalie Church moves up to Marketing Manager and Caroline Payne becomes Assistant Marketing Manager. At Vintage/Anchor, Julie Ertl has been promoted to Senior Publicity Manager, Sarah Nisbet to Publicist, and Alexandra Dos Santos to Associate Publicist. At Portfolio/Sentinel, Helen Healey is now Associate Editor, Nina Rodriguez-Marty is now Assistant Editor, and Regina Andreoni is now Marketing Coordinator. Tricja Okuniewska has been promoted to Assistant Editor at Putnam.
At Scholastic, Beth Polcari has been promoted to President, International. She succeeds Nelson Hitchcock, who has retired.
Rachel Chou is now SVP, Associate Publisher, Marketing and Publicity at Celadon. Also at that imprint, Christine Mykityshyn has been promoted to Senior Publicity Director; Anna Belle Hindenlang to Senior Publicist; Jaime Noven to Senior Marketing Manager; Heather Orlando to Associate Publicist; and Cecily Van Buren-Freedman to Assistant Editor. At Henry Holt, Serena Jones is now VP and Executive Editor. Riva Hocherman has been promoted to Associate Publisher at Metropolitan Books. Nicolette Seeback moves up to Associate Art Director; James Melia becomes Executive Editor; Ruby Rose Lee becomes Associate Editor; Catryn Silbersack becomes Publicist; and Sarah Fitts becomes Associate Publicist. At St. Martin’s Publishing Group, Erica Martirano is now Director, Marketing & Multicultural Initiatives.
At Highlights, Kent Rademaker moves up to VP of Brand Marketing, while Jay Gaughan becomes VP of Third-Party Ecommerce, and Marie O’Neill becomes Senior Director of Creative Position on the editorial and product teams.
Julie Kahn has been promoted to VP of Sales and Marketing at New Harbinger Publications.
Carol Hinz moves up to Associate Publisher of Millbrook Press and Carlrhoda Books at Lerner Publishing Group. Jon Fishman has been promoted to Executive Editor of Lerner Sports.
Jane Marchant has been promoted to Program Director, Literary Awards at PEN America.
At Holiday House, Miriam Miller moves up to Director, Subsidiary Rights.
In agency news…Caryn Wiseman is now Executive Agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Caroline Eisenmann is now Senior Agent at Frances Goldin Literary Agency. At Folio Literary Management, Elissa Alves has been promoted to Literary and Operations Associate. Additionally, United Talent Agency (UTA) has promoted Jason Richman to co-lead the Media Rights Group alongside Keya Khayatian.
At William Morrow, Liz Stein is now Executive Editor. Sara Birmingham has been promoted to Editor at Ecco.
Jessica Renheim has been promoted to Senior Acquisitions Editor at Crooked Lane Books and Alcove Press.
Jenny Xu is now Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Megha Majumdar has been promoted to Senior Editor at Catapult, and Kendall Storey moves up to Editor and Foreign Rights Manager.
At Other Press, Leah Morse moves up to Senior Publicist.
At Grove Atlantic, Katie Raissian has been promoted to Senior Editor; Kait Astrella to Publicist; Andrew Unger to Retail Sales Manager and Digital Strategy Specialist; and Sara Vitale to Assistant Editor.
Tiara Iandiorio is now Designer for Aladdin, and Hana Park moves up to Assistant Editor at Simon & Schuster.
At Princeton University Press, Jackie Delaney is now Assistant Editor, Paperbacks, and Kenneth Guay is now Editorial Associate.
At Kensington Publishing, Kristen Vega has been promoted to Assistant Manager for Marketing and Influencer Outreach.
Liz Snell is now Shipping/Receiving Lead at Sourcebooks.
At Ulysses Press, Tyanni Niles has been promoted to Digital Marketing Coordinator.
DULY NOTED
Brandeis University has acquired the University Press of New England’s full list, excluding Dartmouth College Press titles. When UPNE dissolved in 2018, Brandeis and Dartmouth became co-managers and owners of the consortium’s list. The University of Chicago Press’s Chicago distribution center will continue to handle marketing, sales, and distribution for Brandeis and UPNE.
At William Morris, twenty-five new partners have been named, including Margaret Riley King. Pay reductions imposed in April have been restored with the new year.
Post Hill Press will launch a new Jewish imprint, Wicked Son, focused on “publishing sharp-edged political and cultural commentary as well as history, fiction, philosophy, and other books of Jewish interest.” Leading the imprint are Adam Bellow and David S. Bernstein.
Anchor Books will begin publishing hardcovers in addition to its paperback line, beginning with six to eight titles in 2022. The program will be headed up by Editorial Director Edward Kastenmeier and Editors Anna Kaufman and Caitlin Landuyt.
Don Pape announced a new agency, Pape Commons, that will “serve the author community not only as a literary agency but also as a forum for community and support of writers’ craft.” Most recently he was publisher of NavPress.
At Cengage, Michael L. Lomax, President and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, and Alexandra Bernadette, Founder and CEO of Beyond 12, have joined the board of directors.
EVENTS
January 15-17
Albuquerque Comic Con
Albuquerque, NM
January 22-26
ALA Midwinter Meeting
Online
January 26-31
Taipei International Book Exhibition
Taipei, Taiwan
January 28-31
Angoulême International Comics Festival
Angoulême, France/online
January 28-February 1
Jaipur Literature Festival
Jaipur, India/online
January 29-February 13
Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
Dubai, UAE
February 2-4
PubWest
online
February 18-20
ABA Winter Institute 16 (Wi16)
online
