People Round Up, Mid February, 2024

PEOPLE

Colin Shields, VP and executive director of global and international sales, is leaving Simon Schuster. Laura Perciasepe, formerly senior editor at Riverhead Books/PRH, is joining Summit Books/S&S as executive editor.

Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray will move from HarperCollins to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group on April 15 They will set up a new iteration of the Balzer + Bray imprint with both having the title of SVP and co-publisher.

Kirsty Melville was named CEO at Andrew McMeel Universal, the third person in the company’s 54 year history that has assumed this role. She will oversee all AMU operations while continuing to serve as president and publisher of Andrew McMeel Publishing.

Mark Warner is joining HarperCollins Christian Publishing as VP of business development and operations. Rachel Molland has joined Harper as senior publicist. She was previously a publicist at Basic Books and Seal Press.

At Hachette Book Group, Sally Kim will join Little, Brown as president and publisher on March 4, leaving her current role as SVP publisher at Putnam/PRH. Current Little, Brown publisher Bruce Nichols will leave his position on March 1. Brianne Oliva, formerly marketing and publicity intern at Workman, is joining Basic Books as marketing assistant.

In other Penguin Random House news, SVP for distribution in Maryland Vince Annoreno will retire on October 1 after 35 years at the company. Katie Burton has joined Random House Children’s Books as senior associate for social media. Kelsey Curtis has joined Vintage, as senior publicist. She was previously publicity manager at DK US. Sara Hayet has joined Doubleday as publicist, she was previously associate publicist at Zando. Dara Sheere and Jasmin Shin have joined Penguin Random House Canada as marketing coordinator. John Castillanes has joined as advertising coordinator. Rebecca Rocillo has joined as editorial assistant for McClelland & Stewart.

Daniela Rapp has joined Skyhorse Publishing as executive editor. She was previously Mayo Clinic Press.

Priti Sharma has joined Chronicle Books as sales assistant for mass market. Jocelyn Shratter has joined as sales and marketing enablement assistant.

Madison Gaines has joined ‘Shelf Awareness’ as publishing assistant.

At Open Road Integrated Media, Marco Tulio Cherulli Borges is joining as data engineer.

Drew Gruss has been made co-owner of Microcosm Publishing. Kandi Zeller has joined as editor. David Geiser has joined the fulfillment team and Daley Farr has joined as marketing and publicity supervisor.

Stephanie Wells has been appointed executive editor of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.

At Maria B. Campbell, Kaylee Hirzel-Duff has been promoted to junior scout.

In Agency News…

Sarah Brown has joined C&W, part of the Curtis Brown Group as agent, she was previously an agent at United Agents.

Ultra Literary, Elizabeth Aaron has joined as foreign rights director and operations manager. She was previously editorial assistant at Book of the Month and scout at KF Literary Scouting. Joanna Rasheed has joined as assistant literary agent, she was previously assistant and rights coordinator at Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency. Lane Clarke, previously agent at Arthouse Literary Agency has joined as agent.

Maria Napolitano has joined KT Literary as foreign rights manager and agent.

At Storm Literary Agency, Heather Cashman has been promoted to senior literary agent. Lisa Amstutz has been promoted to literary agent. Michelle Hauck has been promoted to literary agent.

PROMOTIONS

At HarperCollins, Camille Smaby, has been promoted to senior marketing manager at HarperCollins Publishers. HarperCollins Children’s Books has promoted Shannon Cox to senior marketing associate, Michael D’Angelo, Lauren Tambini, and Emily Mannon to senior marketing manager.

Elizabeth Trout has been promoted to editor at Kensington Books.

At Penguin Random House, Lance Fitzgerald has been promoted to senior VP of content and business development at Penguin Random Audio. Abby Nutter has been promoted to senior editor at Penguin Random House Audio. Leah Jackson has been promoted to associate editor. Lauren Diaz Morgan has been promoted to senior manager of licensing and business development. Tara Hart has been promoted to senior manager of backlist and art rights and permissions at Penguin Random House Audio. Random House Children’s Books has promoted Jenn Inzetta to associate director of audience engagement strategy. Meredith Wagner has been promoted to senior manager of social media strategy at Random House Children’s Books. Penguin Random House Canada, Cherly Nurse has been promoted to royalty accountant manager. Naomi Pinn has been promoted to senior contracts manager. Jamie Steep has been promoted to contracts associate. Emma Dolan and Andrew Roberts have been promoted to senior designer. Noah Kahansky has been promoted to studio coordinator. Melody Tacit has been promoted to academic sales manager. Hilary Lo has been promoted to assistant editor at Knopf Canada. Dulce Rosales has been promoted to senior manager for advertising services at Penguin Random House Canada. Viking Penguin has promoted Allie Merola to editor. Tina Ruppert is promoted to VP, distribution, for Maryland, succeeding Annoreno and reporting to senior vice president, distribution Lori De Reza. At Crown Publishing, Hannah Hunt has been promoted to senior prepress associate. Nick Patton has been promoted to prepress manager. Dan Meyers has been promoted to production manager. Terry Deal has been promoted to associate director, production editorial. Patricia Shaw has been promoted to associate director, production editorial, and digital copy chief. Joyce Wong has been promoted to executive production editor. Sohayla Farman has been promoted to production editor. Liza Stepanovich has been promoted to assistant managing editor.

At Simon & Schuster, Molly Gregory has been promoted to senior editor at Gallery Books.

Leo PR has promoted Molly Mitchell to associate publicist.

Heyday has promoted Marthine Satris to senior acquisitions editor.

DULY NOTED

Amelia Possanza and Brittani Hilles have launched Lavender Public Relations, a literary public relations agency that is “aimed at uplifting and building long-term careers for queer and feminist voices across genres”. Previously Possanza was associate director at Flatiron Books and Hilles was senior publicity manager at William Morrow.

EVENTS

Feb 19-23

San Miguel Writers Conference

Guanajuato, Mexico

Feb 20-25

Taipei International Book Exhibition

Taipei City, TPE

Feb 28

Audio Publishers Association Conference

Virtual

Feb 29- Mar 3

Emerald City ComicCon