People Round-Up, Early December 2023

PEOPLE

Marcus Leaver has announced the launch of his new company, Gemini Books Group. Gemini has acquired Imagine That!, Palazzo Editions, Ad Lib Publishers, Mardel Books, and Pimpernel Press. He previously was the CEO of The Quarto Group until 2018 and the co-founder of Welbeck Publishing Group until late 2022 where it was then sold to Hachette UK.

At Hachette Book Group, associate publisher Jaimee Callaway will succeed Bill Newlin, VP and publisher of Avalon Travel, who will be retiring on June 30th, 2024.

At Macmillan Publishers, Andrew Miller has been named president and publisher of Henry Holt, effective mid-January 2024. The position was previously held by Amy Einhorn who is now SVP and publisher of Crown. Alisa Trager has joined as managing editor. David Garabedian has joined as associate for facilities programs and systems. Amber Cortes has joined as junior associate for procurement. Robert Naggar has joined as senior director of production operations. Hannah Dragone has joined as senior production manager.

At Penguin Random House SVP, sales & customer operations John Bohman will retire on December 15 as part of the company’s VSO.

Matt Gannon is joining HarperCollins Publishers as senior director of warehouse operations. Kelsey Manning has joined as director of marketing for The Morrow Group.

Shawn Dahl has joined Abrams as art director. She is the co-author of Brooklyn Street Style.

Maria Goldverg will join Liveright, the imprint of W.W. Norton as senior editor. She was previously senior editor at Pantheon.

Katie Raissian is joining Scribner as executive editor; she was previously senior editor at Grove Atlantic.

Erica Gelbard has joined Chronicle Books as associate director of publicity. She was previously at Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press.

At Scholastic, Abigail Jordan has joined as a publicity assistant. She was formerly a publicity assistant at Other Press.

Nate Rapach has joined Sourcebooks as accounting associate. Siena Koncsol has joined as senior publicity and marketing manager.

At Candlewick Press, Zach Simpson has joined as senior accountant.

Chris Kouzes has joined Cottage Door Press as senior VP of sales.

In Agency News…

Rachel Mann, formerly literary agent at Jo Unwin Literary Agency has joined Creative Artists Agency’s book department as publishing agent.

Donya Dickerson has joined Aevitas Creative Management as an agent. She was previously an associate publisher at McGraw Hill.

PROMOTIONS

Beverly Hare has been promoted to manager of compliance and quality control at Simon & Schuster. Diane Lalli, Bradley Bratcher, and Mike Schmidt have been promoted to VP of warehouse operations and logistics at Simon & Schuster. Lori Perino has been promoted to director of distribution and logistics.

HarperCollins Children’s Books’ Harper Group saw the promotion of Megan Ilnitzki to executive editor. Jes Lyons is being promoted to publicity manager at Willam Morrow. Rachel Berquist has been promoted to senior marketing manager at Morrow Group. Kelly Dasta has been promoted to senior marketing associate. Beatrice Jason has been promoted to publicity manager at Morrow Group. Jessica Vestuto has been promoted to associate editor at Mariner Books.

At Macmillan, Ahmed Scott has been promoted to senior associate for facilities programs and systems. Michelle Timmins has been promoted to library marketing coordinator. Samantha Slavin has been promoted to manager of diversified sales.

Lara Phan has been promoted to VP of account marketing and event strategy at Penguin Random House.

Sarah Bonamino has been promoted to senior publicity manager at Blackstone Publishing.

Arune Singh has been promoted to VP of brand and editorial at Skybound.

DULY NOTED

Larry Hughes, the longtime William & Morrow chief, died on November 14 at the age of 98. He spent more than 40 years with the company and then went on to form his company, Hobson and Hughes and assist in multiple publishing organizations including, the Association of American Publishers, National Book Foundation, and National Book Awards.

Publishing executive Gladys Carr died on November 29th, at age 90. She spent her career at HarperCollins and McGraw-Hill working most notably with James Baldwin and Erma Bombeck. In retirement, her poetry and writing appeared in more than 100 journals and magazines. The Legends Internship Program at the Poetry Center at Smith College is named in her honor.

Casey McIntyre , VP and editor-at-large of Putnam Books for Young Readers, died on November 15th from ovarian cancer. A fundraiser in her name has raised more than $800,000, surpassing the initial goal of $20,000.

EVENTS

January 4-7

MLA Annual Convention

Philadelphia, NJ

January 5-7

Fan Expo New Orleans

New Orleans, LA

January 11-14

Key West Literary Seminar

Key West, FL

January 13-21

Çukurova Book Fair