People Round Up, Early May, 2024

PEOPLE

At Simon & Schuster, Craig Mandeville, VP and general manager at Simon & Schuster, will retire effective July 13.

Knopf announced that Emily Cunningham will join as executive editor, effective June 3. She will work on Knopf’s nonfiction list. Cunningham comes to Knopf from Penguin Press, where she is a senior editor.

At Macmillan Publishers, Madeline Winter has joined as sales and business development specialist at Macmillan. Jessica Sorentino has joined as senior marketing and diversified sales manager at Macmillan. Becca Ramsey has joined as cost accountant at Macmillan. Miguel Cervantes, formerly marketing manager at PublicAffairs, has joined Celadon Books as marketing manager.

HarperCollins has announced Mary Beth Thomas, the VP and director of independent retail sales, has left the company.

Disney Hyperion announced editor-at-large Stephanie Owens Lurie will retire from the company at the end of May.

At Chegg Inc. it has been announced that on June 1st Nathan Schultz, Chegg’s COO, will become President & CEO, while Dan Rosensweig steps into a new role as Executive Chairman.

Highlights announced Todd Jones will become director of sales. He was most recently VP, field and library sales, at Penguin Random House. Rachel Barry, has been hired as director of marketing and publicity; she was most recently VP, marketing, publicity and E- commerce at Insight Editions; prior to Insight, she spent 17 years in marketing and publicity roles at DK. Stephanie Lewis, director of analytics, was most recently director, business analytics, at Insight Editions; prior to Insight she held various data analytics positions at Sourcebooks.

At Zando, Christopher King, has joined as art director, he was previously associate art director at Penguin Press.

At Sourcebooks, Melissa Manlove has joined Sourcebooks Jabberwocky as executive editor.

At Media Masters Publicity Consultants, Melissa Taylor has joined as book marketing, content promotion, and social media strategist.

The Ohioana Library Association, has named Kimberlee L. Kiehl as executive director.

At Copper Canyon Press, co-publishers George Knotek and Joseph Bednarik retired on May 1. Publicist Ryo Yamaguchi has been named the new publisher, and Julie Johnson is promoted to director of finance & operations. Michael Wiegers remains executive editor and adds the role of artistic director.

____

In Agency News…

Watson, Little has announced that Hannah Weatherill is joining as the agency’s book to screen rights representative as well as building her own list of commercial and upmarket fiction and non-fiction. She was most recently covering parental leave as head of media rights at Penguin Random House UK in 2023.

At Regal Hoffman & Associates, Priscilla Posada has joined as an agent. She is a literary translator as well as a MFA candidate at Bennington College.

____

PROMOTIONS

At Macmillan Publishers, Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski has been promoted to VP and associate publisher at Henry Holt. Amanada Crimarco has been promoted to associate director of library marketing. Rosana Zagaceta has been promoted to senior finance analyst. Christopher Urban has been promoted to metadata manager. Allison Tromp has been promoted to senior director of inventory management. Michelle Suter has been promoted to senior analyst for treasury and insurance. Chris Scheina has been promoted to director of subsidiary rights. Caitlyn Rush has been promoted to lead business analyst for platform development. Karen Rucker has been promoted to lead business analyst for platform development. Reagan Reynolds has been promoted to sales associate. Daniela Plunkett has been promoted to senior manager of business systems. Veena Vittal has been promoted to lead data analyst for platform development. Emily Miller has been promoted to subsidiary rights associate. Jennifer Macancela has been promoted to sales associate. Emily Kleinburg has been promoted to production associate. Lea Kim has been promoted to tax director. Amanda Gutierrez has been promoted to senior production manager. Christopher Gonzalez has been promoted to senior manager of digital production. Jennifer Golding has been promoted to senior sales manager of national accounts. Sophie Giroir has been promoted to speakers bureau events and sales associate. Amy Fodera has been promoted to manager of financial operations. Flora Esterly has been promoted to senior subsidiary rights manager. Emily Day has been promoted to library marketing manager. Vasudevareddy Cheluri has been promoted to lead developer for Cognos business intelligence and platform development. Nikita Chatoredussy is being promoted to senior sales analyst for sales planning. Celeste Cass has been promoted to senior production manager. Abigail Burrus has been promoted to sales manager for data science. Kristin Boran has been promoted to international sales manager. Nora Afghani has been promoted to author events associate.

At New Harbinger Publications, Ifeoma Odiwe is being promoted to publicist

At Phaidon, Lynne Ciccaglione is being promoted to executive editor.

At Peachtree, Jonah Heller has been promoted to senior editor for Peachtree and Peachtree Teen.

____

DULY NOTED

The IBPA has announced that the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards will be renamed the IBPA Books Awards.

Janet Reid, the influential publishing blogger and literary agent died on April 14 following a brief illness. C.J. Sansom, best selling British author of Tudor crime thriller series, has died at 71.

Literary agent Richard Parks, 83, died of complications from dementia on April 23. Parks was the founder of The Richard Parks Agency and previously worked at Curtis Brown.

To mark their 10th anniversary, the Law Office of Stacy J. Grossman has been rebranded as SGIP.

Olivia Valcarce is launching a freelance editorial endeavor specializing in middle grade and YA fiction and can be contacted at BookOliviaV@gmail.com. She was previously editor at Inkyard.

One World sent 21 of its queer and BIPOC writers on residency at Art Omi in upstate New York this week. Writers across disciplines including fiction, nonfiction, and journalism, gathered on the grounds in Ghent, NY, which has resident accommodations and also houses a sprawling sculpture garden. The initiative was spearheaded by executive editor Nicole Counts.

____

EVENTS

May 6-12

Mass Kids Lit Fest

Northampton, MA

May 9-12

Melbourne Writers Festival

Melbourne, AUS

May 9-13

Turin International Book Fair

Turin, IT

May 16-17