People Round Up, Early March, 2024

PEOPLE

Co-Founders Madeline McIntosh, Nina von Moltke and Don Weisberg announced the launch of Authors Equity, a new collaborative book publisher. McIntosh holds the title of CEO and Publisher, von Moltke is President and Weisberg is Senior Advisor. In addition Robin Desser has been named Editorial Advisor,

Carly Gorga is Chief Marketing Officer and Andrea Bachofen has the role of COO. All had served at one point in their careers at Penguin Random House, though Weisberg was most recently at Macmillan and Bachofen at Amazon.

At One Signal Publishers, Alessandra Bastagli, has joined as VP and publisher, she was previously editorial director at Astra House. She succeeds founding publisher Julia Cheiffetz.

At Simon & Schuster, Ali Cutrone, formerly executive director of online sales at Hachette Book Group, is joining as VP of digital and online sales. Sara Barley, formerly editorial director of young adult publishing at Flatiron Books, will join Simon & Schuster as editorial director of a new imprint under S & S Books for Young Readers, effective April 8th. Kevin Hanson, president and publisher of Simon & Schuster Canada is leaving the company after almost two decades. And Felicia Quon, previously VP of marketing and communications at Simon & Schuster Canada, has joined Page Two as sales director.

At Macmillan Publishers, Roger Priddy, publisher of Priddy Books, will retire on June 30, after which he will continue to work with the imprint as an author and consultant. Sally Poulson will lead both imprints, Priddy Books and Neon Squid as managing director. Sam Priddy will serve as publisher. Joanne Clark will become creative director and Fiona Macdonald will take on the role of publishing director.

Anthropic has announced longtime Google executive, Tom Turvey as vice president of product.

Penguin Random House, Ivy Cheng has joined Viking Penguin as publicist.

At Bloomsbury Continuum, editorial director Robin Baird-Smith left the company after 24 years at the end of February. Publisher Tomasz Hoskins has succeeded him.

Dan Mayer has joined Crooked Lane Books as senior editor-at-large. He was previously editorial director at Seventh Street Books.

Zoe Caulfield, previously at Welbeck Publishing Group and Hacheette UK, will join Gemini Books Group as executive director of North American sales and will also oversee foreign and subsidiary rights. Adrian Greenwood, previously sales director for Magic Cat, will join as executive director of UK and worldwide sales. Steve Munnings previously sales director of Imagine That has joined as group commercial director.

Jim Howard, chief operating officer, has retired from Morgan James Publishing effective February 29th.

At HarperCollins, Stephanie Mendoza,, formerly associate director of publicity Algonquin Books, has joined as director of publicity.

Anita Okoye, formerly assistant editor at Marvel Comics, has joined Abrams ComicArts as editor.

Yale University Press Director John Donatich will retire at the end of June 2025.

At Kar-Ben Publishing, publisher Joni Sussman will retire on June 28 after 20 years with the company.

Suzanne Albert has joined Barefoot Books as VP of global sales. She was previously VP of sales at Callisto Media.

Shelly Romero has joined Chooseco as senior editor, she was formerly at Scholastic and Cake Creative. Kristen Pettit has joined Cake Creative and Electric Postcard as editorial director. She was previously executive editor at Harper Children’s.

The Academy of American Poets has named Sherly Woodruff director of development

At Lee & Low Books, Sacha Chadwick has joined as a publicist.

Amber Thorton has been named director of the Cullman County (AL) Public Library System.

The California Independent Booksellers Alliance announced that Hannah Walcher will become executive director, starting part- time in March and transitioning to full-time in June. She was previously the executive director of Books Inc’s Bridge literary nonprofit.

Michelle Pavao has joined Firebrand Technologies and NetGalley as director of finance.

At Open Road Integrated Media, Joshua Riitano is joining as marketing analytics manager.

At Ave Maria Press, Justyna Coppus has resigned as publicist. Erin Pierce is interim publicist and strategic partnerships manager.

In Agency News…

Stephanie Winter has joined KO Media Management as literary agent.

Laura Crockett has been promoted to senior literary agency and foreign rights manager at TriadaUS Literary Agency.

Molly Ketcheson has joined Wolfson Literary Agency as literary agent.

Eli Keren, formerly an associate agent at United Agents, has joined as literary agent at The Curious Minds Agency.

Yasmin McDonald has joined CAA as an agent in the books department, she was previously at United Agents.

Founder of Westwood Creative Artists, Bruce Westwood has retired. Jake Babad is rejoining the agency as VP of finance and co-head of media rights on March 4th. Previously he was a litigator at Torys LLP.

Eccles Fischer Associates, Éditions Phébus has appointed Eccles Fisher Associates as their US scout.

PROMOTIONS

HarperCollins Publishers, David Howe has been promoted to associate editor. David Walker has been promoted to assistant director of design at William Morrow Group and HarperCollins Children’s Books. At Harlequin Intrigue, Emma Cole has been promoted to editor. Maureen Cole has been promoted to executive director of publicity at Morrow Group. Allison Carney has been promoted to senior director of marketing at Morrow Group. Kirby Sandmeyer has been promoted to editor of Harper and Harper Business.

At Penguin Random House, Arielle Pearl has been promoted to senior designer at Crown. Megan Westbrook has been promoted to project manager at Crown. Setareh Saidi has been promoted to senior analyst of consumer insights at Crown. Cady Zeng has been promoted to assistant managing editor at Penguin Random House Audio. Kaitlyn Robinson has been promoted to associate director, managing editorial at Penguin Random House Audio. Anita Chong has been promoted to editorial director for McClelland & Stewart. At Dutton, Maya Ziv has been promoted to VP and editorial director. Ellie Pritchett has been promoted to associate editor at Vintage/Anchor.

Hachette Book Group has promoted Charlotte Morrison to senior advertising manager at Little, Brown. Karina Leon has been promoted to assistant editor at Little, Brown. Morgan Wu has been promoted to assistant editor at Little, Brown. Kirin Diemont has been promoted to senior designer at Little, Brown. Helen O’Hare has been promoted to executive editor at Little, Brown and Mulholland Books. Emily Williams has been promoted to assistant editor at James Patterson Books. Thea Diklich-Newell has been promoted to editor at Voracious and will add titles to the Spark list. At Grand Central Publishing, Natalie Bautista has been promoted to assistant editor at Balance. Amina Iro has been promoted to associate editor at Legacy Lit. Leah Hultenschmidt has been promoted to VP and publisher at the Forever imprint. Sabrina Flemming has been promoted to associate editor at Forever. Sam Brody has been promoted to associate editor at Forever. Madeleine Colavita has been promoted to senior editor at Forever. Lauren Sum has been promoted to associate publicist. Alana Spendley has been promoted to marketing associate. Leena Oropez has been promoted to marketing associate. Kamrun Nesa has been promoted to publicity manager. Stef Acquaviva has been promoted to publicist. Running Press has promoted Randall Lotowycz to senior editor, Maria Rillo to associate editor, and Britney Prerilli to editor. Mary Boyer, Justine Kelley, and Tanvi Baghele have been promoted to designer at Running Press. Kara Thornton has been promoted to director of publicity of Running Press. Rebecca Matheson has been promoted to marketing and publicity manager. Amanda Richmond has been promoted to senior designer and manager of proprietary editions at Running Press.

At Macmillan Publishers, Sandra Moore has transferred from Celadon Books to the reprints production team as production associate.

At Simon & Schuster Michelle Herrera Mulligan has been promoted to VP and associate publisher at Atria, and will lead its new imprint, Primero Sueño Press, dedicated to publishing Latinx/Latine/Hispanic authors in both English and Spanish.

Candlewick Press has promoted Tracy Miracle to VP of publicity, Frank Antippas to accounting manager, and Kristin Seim to senior HR representative and office manager.

Holiday House has promoted Michelle Montague to VP of trade marketing.

Peachtree Publishing Company has promoted Karen Walsh to VP of of consumer and brand marketing.

At Riverdale Avenue Books, David Valentin is being promoted to subrights manager.

Soho Press has promoted Nick Whitney to associate editor.

Sourcebooks has promoted Michael Zuccato to senior VP and chief digital officer.

Nick Weckman has been promoted to publishing implementation manager at Firebrand Technologies.

At Beaufort Books, Emma St. John has been promoted to director of sales and marketing.

Andrews McMeel Publishing has promoted Jeff Preuss to production manager, Chuck Harper has been promoted to production director for books, Rebecca Ngo has been promoted to associate editor for calendars, Alex Alfano has been promoted to associate production manager, Sarah Tobaben has been promoted to executive editor for calendars, and Shona Burns has been promoted to VP of publishing services, books, and calendars.

At Open Road Integrated Media, Amanda Schaffer has been promoted to associate art director.

Zibby Media has promoted Anne Messite to president. Graça Tito is promoted to director of events and Roberto Velez is promoted to director of financial planning and analysis.

DULY NOTED

The Jerusalem International Book Forum has postponed their event until 2025.

Spotify has introduced a paid subscription plan focused on audiobooks in the US. For $9.99 a month, listeners can receive 15 hours worth of audiobooks along with ad supported music.

Author-illustrator, Petra Mathers died February 6th; she was 78.

Joey Paul, 78, died February 6th. He worked in Christian Publishing for more than 50 years. He most recently worked at Thomas Nelson as executive editor.

Herman Parish, 71, author of the Amelia Bedelia books died February 10th. His aunt started the series which he then continued after her death in 1995 and went on to write an additional 59 books for the series.

Ken Fund, former Quarto COO, died on February 22nd at age 65. He worked with the Quarto Publishing Group for 24 years and retired in 2021.

EVENTS

Mar 9 – 10

Tucson Festival of Books

Tucson, AZ

Mar 9

Pasadena Festival of Women Authors

Pasadena, CA

Mar 12-14

The London Book Fair

London, ENG

Mar 14-16

New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University