People Round Up, Mid January, 2024

PEOPLE

Liz Perl, EVP and chief marketing officer at Simon & Schuster, will retire on February 2. She first joined S&S in 2008 after three years as publisher of Rodale Books.

Firebrand Group announced that Tom Shawver has been named chief technology officer of Firebrand Technologies and NetGalley, starting January 16. Previously, Shawver served as CTO of 360 Media Direct.

Karen K. Miller has been named CEO of Hidden Pigeon Company, which was launched last year to expand author and illustrator Mo Willems’s library of kids’ and family IP. Miller was previously at Cyber Group Studios and Disney, succeeds Kathy Franklin.

Kaitilin Harri has been named senior director of publishing at William Morrow. She was previously the senior director or marketing at Morrow.

Gotham Ghostwriters has announced that Nathan Robertson will be managing director, bookwriting. Prior to joining in 2019, he previously worked at Crown Publishing Group as senior editor.

Emma Peters has joined Countryman Press, an imprint of W.W. Norton as assistant editor. She was formerly the managing editor at PowerHouse Books.

Jim Dassise, the western region business manager for Arcadia Publishing has left.

At Penguin Random House, Chloe Gandy has joined Penguin Canada as editorial assistant, Natasha Tsakiris has joined as senior publicist, and Ayomikum Taiwo has joined as human resources coordinator. Cindy Yen has joined as as online and digital sales coordinator. Doubleday Canada has Diyasha Sen joining as editorial assistant. Kimberly Lew has joined Crown and Crown Currency as associate marketing director.

At Candlewick Press, Nicole Cotton is joining as a production assistant.

Little Bee Books and Yellow Jacket’s associate editor, Jaime Gelman will now acquire trade books for both imprints. She previously acquired licensed content for BuzzPop.

In Agency News…

Anna Llewellyn has joined as project coordinator at Brockaman, Inc.

Molly Gendell has joined Maria B. Campbell Associates as a scout. She was previously an associate editor at Mariner Books.

KO Media Management has promoted Kate Rogers to associate agent and will continue in her role as licensing coordinator.

New Leaf Literary & Media has promoted Katherine Curtis to film and TV associate, and Eilenn Lalley has been promoted to marketing associate.

At The CAT Agency, Aliza R. Hoover and Christie Megill have been promoted to agent.

PROMOTIONS

At Penguin Random House Children’s, Annie Kelley has been promoted to executive editor. Rebecca Vitkus has been promoted to senior managing editor. Emily Hoffman has been promoted to associate managing editor. Stephanie Bay has been promoted to senior copy editor. Alyssa Prado has been promoted to associate brand manager. At Penguin Random House Canada, Supipi Weerasooriya has been promoted to group assistant for marketing and publicity. Ellen Zhang has been promoted to sales representative for online and digital sales, and Ankanee Lagunarajan has been promoted to audiobooks coordinator. Julia Rickard is being promoted to senior publicist at Viking/Penguin. At Berkley Books, Amanda Bergeron has been promoted to VP and editorial director and will be overseeing the imprint’s contemporary historical fiction lists. Jen Monroe has been promoted to executive editor. Liz Sellers has been promoted to associate editor at Berkley. Candice Coote has been promoted to assistant editor. Kiera Bertrand has been promoted to publishing associate. At One World and Roc Lit 101, Tiffany Ren has been promoted to associate marketing manager.

At Hachette Book Group, Suet Chong has been promoted to creative director of Artisan and Workman.

At HarperCollins Publishers, Andrew DiCecco has been promoted to director or production. Trish McGinley has been promoted to director of children’s production. Dion Fisco has been promoted to director of reprint production. Nicole Moulaison and Susan Kosko have been promoted to senior director of production. John Herring has been promoted to VP of production operations. Amy Baker has been promoted to VP, associate publisher, and editorial director for Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks. Drew Henry has been promoted to assistant editor at Dey Street Books.

Gillian Barth has been promoted to associate production editor at Amplify Publishing Group.

Little Bee Books has promoted Maggie Salko to marketing and publicity associate.

Juliana Lauletta has been promoted to VP of operations at Astra Publishing House. Rachel Small has been promoted to director of publicity.

DULY NOTED

Publishers Lunch and the American Booksellers Association will host a virtual Buzz Books Editors and Authors Panel at 7 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, January 24. Editor Leigh Haber once again serves as host/emcee. Registration is free, and the first 25 booksellers to register will receive galleys of the featured books.

Simon & Schuster Children’s UK is launching two new imprints in 2024, Gallery Kids and Gallery YA. Ali Dougal, publishing director, will head the imprints with editorial director, Yasmin Morrissey. Emily Kelly has joined Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing as managing editorial assistant. She was formerly assistant editor at Macmillan Learning.

Row House Publishing has announced its romance imprint, Generous Press which will focus on releasing BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disability focused content. Publisher Eliana Ellis and deputy publisher Amber Flame have announced the press’ first title will be released in May.

Mystery Writers of America have announced its special awards, with Katherine Hall Page and R.L. Stein as the grand masters and Michaela Hamilton of Kensington Publishing receiving the Ellery Queen Award. They will be honored at the annual Edgar Awards ceremony on May 1st in New York City.

Former executive editor of The New York Times and Pulitzer Prize winner, Joseph Lelyveld died at 86 on January 5th following complications from Parkinson’s disease. He started with The Times in 1962 as a copy boy and worked his way up to executive editor, a position he held from 1994 to 2001.

Joan Acocella, dance critic and staff writer for The New Yorker from 1995- 2019 died January 7th at 78.

EVENTS

January 13-21

Çukurova Book Fair

Adana, Turkey

January 19

BISG (live/virtual): Doing Rights, Right Making the Case for Change

New York, NY

January 19-21

Albuquerque Comic Con

Albuquerque, NM

January 22