PEOPLE
Amazon has named Zola Mashariki, former Head of Original Programming at BET and SVP, Production at Fox Searchlight Studios, as the new Head of Audible Studios. She will lead original content creation, oversee studio operations, and develop and implement content strategy.
LaSharah S. Bunting will join the Simon & Schuster imprint as VP, Executive Editor on May 3. Most recently she was Director of Journalism at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Yahdon Israel joins as Senior Editor; he was previously Editorial Director of Northside Media and Editor-in-Chief of Brooklyn Magazine. At Gallery Books, Aliya King Neil, lately Editor-at-Large at Medium, has joined as Senior Editor.
Andrew Rein joins Zando Projects as Head of Sales & Retail Content Development on April 13. Most recently he was VP, Director of Mass Merch National Accounts. Sareena Kamath has joined as Associate Editor; she was formerly Assistant Editor at Mulholland Books. Caolinn Douglas, lately Publishing Executive at the UK’s Bookouture, has joined as Executive Coordinator and Assistant Editor.
At Edelweiss by Above the Treeline, Linda A. Duggins joins as VP of Strategic Partnerships. She was most recently Senior Director of Publicity and Director of Multicultural Publicity at Grand Central Publishing.
Denise Oswald joins Pantheon Books on April 19 as Editorial Director. She was most recently Executive Editor at Ecco. At Random House, Andy Lefkowitz, previously News Editor at Broadway.com, joins as Production Editor. Makeda Myrie rejoins Penguin Random House Audio as Senior Publishing Manager. She worked as Business Manager there from 2008 to 2019. And at Random House Children’s Books, Tisha Paul, formerly Senior Production Manager and International Liaison for Digital Editions at Men’s Health, joins as Managing Editor.
At HarperCollins, Rick Garcia joins as Director of Digital Advertising. Previously he was Head of Programmatic Advertising at Penguin Random House. At Inkyard Press, Claire Stetzer, lately Associate Editor at Bloomsbury Children’s, joins as Editor. Stephanie Cohen also joins as Editor; she was previously Associate Editor, Journals at Springer Nature.
Alex Hargett joins IDW Publishing as Book Trade and Mass Market Sales Director; she was formerly Manager, Book, Mass, and Digital Sales & Trade Marketing at DC Comics. Pat O’Connell, lately Sales Manager at Dynamite Entertainment joins as Direct Sales Manager. Julia Borden joins as Foreign Licensing Sales Manager. Lauren LePera joins as Managing Editor, a position she previously held at Insight Editions. And Topher Alford joins as Senior Digital Marketing Manager. He worked most recently as Marketing Strategy Manager at DC Comics.
At Sterling Publishing, Denise McGann, Editorial Director of Metro Books/Sandy Creek, is leaving the company and can be contacted at dmcgnyc@gmail.com.
Christina Loff is leaving her position as Senior Marketing and Publicity Director at Chronicle Books to launch a digital marketing and publicity agency.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, Samira Iravani joins as Associate Art Director. Previously she was Senior Designer at Penguin Children’s. Bones Leopard, formerly Design Coordinator at Disney, joins as Senior Designer.
At The Paris Review, Emily Stokes has become Editor, the sixth to hold that position in the magazine’s history. She succeeds Emily Nemens, who is stepping down to concentrate on her own writing. Stokes has been Senior Editor at The New Yorker since 2018.
In agency news…Delia Berrigan Fakis joins Martin Literary & Media Management as Literary Manager, primarily handling adult nonfiction. She was previously Executive Literary Agent at DSM Agency. Natalie Todoroff joins Jane Starr Literary Scouts as Scout; most recently she was Assistant Controller and Contracts Associate at Foundry Literary + Media. Emelie Burl joins Susan Schulman Literary Agency as Associate Agent, based in Missoula, MT.
At Interpop, Rachel Gluckstern joins as Group Editor. She was formerly Editor at little bee.
Daniel Ehrenhaft joins Blackstone Publishing as Senior Acquisitions Editor. Previously he was VP, Editorial Director at Soho Teen.
At Little, Brown, Pronoy Sarkar joins as Senior Editor. He was previously Editor at St. Martin’s.
Holly La Due joins Princeton Architectural Press as Senior Editor. Most recently she was Acquisitions Editor at Prestel Publishing.
At Insight Editions, Lara Starr joins as Senior Publicist and Marketing Strategist.
Amrita Ramanan joins Play On Shakespare as Senior Cultural Strategist and Dramaturg. She was previously Director of Literary Development and Dramaturgy at tbe Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
At Brodart, Lucy Del Priore joins as Manager of Publishing Marketing and Advertising. She was previously School and Library Marketing Director at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.
Vi La Bianca, formerly Head of Content Creation at First Page Sage, joins Scribe Media as Publishing Manager.
Phillip Loken joins University of North Carolina Press as Associate Digital Marketing Manager.
Carina Ray, Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Brandeis University, has been named Editor of the New African Histories series at Ohio University Press.
At Bloomsbury Children’s US, Camille Kellogg joins as Associate Editor. She was previously Assistant Editor at Imprint.
Editor Connor Guy has left Basic Books to pursue freelance editing.
PROMOTIONS
Jen Long is now VP, Deputy Publisher at Gallery Books, while Molly Gregory, Max Meltzer, and Maggie Loughran each move up to Associate Editor. At Avid Reader Press, Alexandra Primiani is now Senior Publicity Manager. At Simon & Schuster, Kaiya Muniz becomes National Account Manager for Barnes & Noble, Children’s Sales, and Amy Rohn becomes Sales Coordinator.
Michael Storrings becomes VP, Executive Creator at St. Martin’s Publishing Group. Danielle Fiorella has been promoted to Art Director, and both Jonathan Bush and Young Lim to Senior Associate Art Director. Chris Scheina becomes Assistant Director, Subsidiary Rights. Kirsi Balasz becomes Assistant Manager of Marketing and Sales Operations, Alexis Neuville becomes Assistant Marketing Manager, and Mac Nicholas moves up to Marketing Coordinator. Sylvan Creekmore moves up to Editor and Cassidy Graham becomes Assistant Editor. At Wednesday Books, Vicki Lame is now Executive Editor, while Jennie Conway is now Editor. At Minotaur, Nettie Finn has been promoted to Associate Editor and Madeline Houpt becomes Assistant Editor.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Dennis Lee is now VP, Business Management. Colleen Murphy, VP of Sales, expands her areas of responsibility to include national accounts, field, specialty, digital, and international sales and subsidiary rights. James Stamos becomes Senior Sales Operations Manager. James Phirman, Senior Director of Special Sales, now oversees the school supply and library business, as well as international. Ron Hussey becomes Director of Permissions, Associate Director of Subsidiary Rights. Liz Anderson has been promoted to Associate Director, Marketing; Meghan Gocke, to Associate Director, Digital Marketing and Operations; and Lauren Wengrovitz, to Marketing Associate, Children’s. Olivia Wilson is now National Accounts Manager, while Emily Breneman becomes Associate Sales Rep. Kimberly Kiefer moves up to Lead Production Coordinator, General Interest/Lifestyle. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, Margaret Raymo moves up to VP, Senior Editorial Director. Mary Magrisso is now Managing Editor. Helen Seachrist is now Senior Production Editor. Lily Kessinger becomes Editor, Harriet Low and Elizabeth Agyemang both become Associate Editors, and Eleanor Hinkle becomes Editorial Associate. Melissa Cicchitelli has been promoted to Manager of Production for Etch and Children’s Special Sales. Emma Grant becomes Production Coordinator.
Craig Herman has been promoted to VP, Global Brand Experiences & Publishing Strategy at Peanuts Worldwide,
At Hachette Book Group, Megan Fitzpatrick has been promoted to Executive Director of Marketing and Publicity for Hachette Audio, while Barbara Slavin moves up to Senior Director of Digital Sales and Business Development and Mary Urban becomes Associate Director of Digital Sales.
Kim Lauber is now Executive Director, Children’s Marketing at Abrams. Jenny Choy moves up to Director, School and Library Marketing for Abram’s Children’s.
At Discovery Education, Paul Aspesi has been promoted to Senior Director for Global Supply Chain.
At NetGalley, Tarah Theoret moves up to Senior Director, Community Experience.
Christine Palomino has been promoted to Director, Specialty Retail Field & Category Sales at Penguin Random House, where Aurora Slothus has been promoted to Assistant Director of Backlist Publishing. At Random House Children’s, Kathy Dunn is now Director, Publicity and Lili Feinberg moves up to Senior Publicist.
Barbara Moser is now Creative Director for Direct at HarperCollins Christian Publishing. At HarperCollins Children’s Books, Jessie Gang moves up to Designer Manager and Cecilia Payseur becomes Senior Designer.
At Catapult Digital, Nicole Chung has been promoted to Editorial Director. Stella Cabot Wilson moves up to Associate Editor of Catapult Magazine and Don’t Write Alone.
In agency news…Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Literary Agent Rachel Neumann will also represent children’s authors at Idea Architects, which recently opened that area of the agency. Maddie Ticknor has been promoted to Subrights and Office Coordinator at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.
At Amazon Publishing, Dennelle Catlett moves up to Senior PR Manager and Brittany Russell and Ashley Vanicek both become Publicity Leads.
At Chronicle Books, Terri Lancaster is now Senior Production Coordinator, Reprints. Elizabeth Lazowski moves up to Assistant Editor, Children’s.
Sarah Lyn Rogers becomes Associate Editor at Soft Skull Press.
Emily Hillebrand has been promoted to Assistant Editor at Diversion Books.
At VIZ Media, Pooja Menon is now Publishing and Rights Associate.
DULY NOTED
Penguin Random House and Marvel Comics are partnering in an exclusive multi-year agreement in which PRH will sell and distribute Marvel’s newly-published and backlist comic books, trade collections, and graphic novels to the direct market worldwide, beginning October 1
Simon & Schuster now handles book and graphic novel sales and distribution for Heavy Metal Entertainment in the US, Canada, and other international territories.
Beginning June 1, the University of Chicago Press and Chicago Distribution Center will handle worldwide distribution for the Central Conference of American Rabbis Press.
Macmillan Children’s is launching Neon Squid, a new imprint focusing on gift nonfiction titles on complex topics. The first list will launch in Winter 2021.
Quarto will launch two new children’s imprints this summer: Happy Yak and Ivy Kids.
Serial Box has been renamed Realm and is expanding to release free original audio shows as ad-supported podcasts, along with an ad-free subscription option. Its stories were previously available to purchase à la carte.
Jean-Claude Brizard, President and CEO of education nonprofit Digital Promise, joins Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s board of directors.
EVENTS
April 8
PEN Literary Awards
online
April 23
BISG Annual Meeting
online
May 26-28
U.S. Book Show
online
