People Round Up, Early March, 2025

PEOPLE

At Penguin Random House, Parisa Ebrahimi will join Riverhead as VP, executive editor, beginning March 24. She was previously at Hogarth. At PRH Christian Publishing, Madison Trammel joined as editorial director, reporting to Laura Barker, VP and publisher. All nonfiction editors acquiring for the WaterBrook, Multnomah, Image and Forum imprints will report to Trammel. He was most recently publisher of B&H Publishing’s academic team. Julie Coryell joins Penguin Publishing Group as publicist, backlist. At Ten Speed Press and Clarkson Potter, Natalie Yera-Campbell has been promoted to publicist.

At Simon & Schuster, Noelle Brown has joined as publicity manager and Brit Smith has joined as editor at Adams Media.

At HarperCollins, on February 24, Monica Shah joined as VP of children’s sales, overseeing the children’s sales team across the chains, mass merch, online, and in the field. Shah reports to president of sales, Ed Spade. She was previously VP of sales and sales operations at Abrams.

At Macmillan, Aliya Burke has joined 23rd Street Books as brand manager. Cara Reilly joins Holt as senior editor. Previously she was editor at Doubleday. Andrew Cox joined as director, data strategy, digital marketing. Kate Gester joined as senior director, strategic projects, business development. Christopher Picillo joined as manager, site reliability, technology. Norm Villacorte joined as senior director, project management, technology.

At the Center For Fiction, Erroll McDonald has stepped down after seven years. Board treasurer Nina von Moltke was unanimously elected as the new chair. Von Moltke is the co-founder and president of Authors Equity.

At Bloomsbury, Colleen Lawrie will join the adult trade editorial department in the newly created role of editorial director of nonfiction, starting March 4. She was previously editorial director with Public Affairs/Hachette Book Group. At Bloomsbury Children’s, Tiffany Coelho has joined as marketing coordinator on the school and library marketing team. She was previously at Holiday House.

At Sourcebooks, Angela Corpus has joined as marketing director, nonfiction. Michael Dempsey has joined as freelance resource manager. David Kwec has joined as information technology support manager. Ellis Jones has joined as assistant designer. Ash Jon has joined as assistant production designer.

At Princeton University Press, David McBride has joined as publisher for politics. He was previously executive editor at Oxford University Press.

At Crooked Lane Books, Denise Zaza has joined as senior editor, with a focus on crime fiction. Previously she was senior editor at Harlequin when she worked on the Intrigue line.

At Whitaker House, Ned Clements joins as VP of sales. He was previously at Multnomah Publishers. Chip McGregor joins as executive editor. He was formerly a publisher at Time Warner.

Salty Days Media CEO and publisher, Sara Domville, announced that David Nussbaum will be chair of a new advisory board. He is the former chair and CEO of America’s Test Kitchen and previously led F+W Media.

At Publishers Marketplace, Mary Ann Naples, joined the team in the newly created position of COO and publisher. She was previously VP and publisher at Hachette Books, after serving as VP and publisher of the Disney Book Group. She can be reached at maryann@publishersmarketplace.com.

At Post Hill Press, Jeremie Ruby-Strauss has joined as executive editor, acquiring platformed nonfiction and pop culture for the Permuted Press imprint. He was previously VP executive editor at Simon & Schuster.

At Candlewick Press, Sydnee Ellison has joined as graphic production assistant.

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In Agency News…

At The Robbins Office and Susanna Lea Associates, Jessica Rios joins as head of operations, reporting to both Kathy Robbins and Susanna Lea. Rios was previously a business affairs executive at UTA.

At Aevitas Creative Management, agents from Erin Murphy Literary Agency– Erin Murphy, Ammi-Joan Paquette, Tricia Lawrence, Kevin Lewis, and Miranda Paul– will join along with their clients. EMLA backlist titles remain under the EMLA umbrella with Murphy supervising.

At Writers House, David Moldawer joined as senior agent. He was previously at Amazon Publishing.

At BookEnds Literary Agency, James McGown has been promoted to senior literary agent.

Elizabeth Wachtel has joined True Literary as senior literary agent and VP. She previously served as literary media agent at WME.

At CookeMcDermid, Stephanie Anderson has been promoted to contracts and operations manager. Swadhi Thanabalasingan has been promoted to finance manager.

At Gersh, head of books Joe Veltre was promoted to senior partner as part of a broader leadership restructuring. Leslie Siebert was named sole president and will oversee day-to-day operations at the agency. Bob and David Gersh serve as cochairs.

At Andrea Brown Literary Agency, executive literary agent Kelly Sonnack will take over as the new owner and president, effective immediately. Andrea Brown, will remain on as founder, president emeritus and a member of the executive team.

At Laura Dail Literary Agency, Taj McCoy joined as an agent. She was previously at Rees Literary Agency.

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PROMOTIONS

At Hachette Book Group, Natassja Haught has been promoted to senior marketing manager at Orbit. Angelica Chong and Tiana Coven have been promoted to editor at Orbit. Nick Burnham has been promoted to associate editor at Orbit. Chris Miceli has been promoted to senior finance director at Workman Running Press Group and Basic Books Group. Tom Guerin has been promoted to senior finance director of Little Brown for Young Readers division. Jillian Amirault has been promoted to senior finance director at Grand Central Publishing Group. At Hachette Audio, Tom Mis has been promoted to director, audiobook production. Melanie Schmidt has been promoted to senior producer. Allison Lane has been promoted to preproduction coordinator. In the accounting department: Stephanie Gildea has been promoted to senior director, Meghan Vortherms has been promoted to senior manager, Jocelyn Machado has been promoted to costing operations manager, and Curtis Lin has been promoted to senior accountant.

At Simon & Schuster, Alissa Rashid, has been promoted to associate marketing director for Aladdin, Little Simon, Simon Spotlight, and Maragaret K. McElderry Books. Kathyrn Belden has been promoted to VP, editor-in-chief and Stu Smith has been promoted to VP, deputy publisher at Scribner.

At Penguin Random House, Julia Katz has joined Random House Publishing Group as VP, director of strategy and finance. She previously worked at PRH Publisher Services. Crisandry Javier has been promoted to senior analyst. Helen Rouner has been promoted to editor at Penguin Press. Sarah Breivogel has been promoted to Bantam as publicity lead. Melissa Folds has been promoted to Dell as publicity lead. Jess Deitcher has been promoted to senior marketing director, Doubleday. Anne Jaconette has been promoted to associate marketing director, Doubleday. Sierra Figueroa has been promoted to senior marketing manager, Vintage. Amanda Orenstein has been promoted to assistant director, strategic insights. At Ten Speed Press and Clarkson Potter, Natalie Yera-Campbell has been promoted to publicist.

At HarperCollins, Ryan Amato has been promoted to associate editor at Harper One. Makayla Tabron has been promoted to associate editor at Amistad Books.

At Macmillan, Mina Chung has been promoted to art director.

At Sourcebooks, Scott Eells has been promoted to associate director of automation and AI. Mandy Chahal has been promoted to associate director of publicity and marketing, Poisoned Pen Press. Emily Engwall has been promoted to senior marketing and publicity associate, Poisoned Pen Press.

At Soho Press, Nick Whitney, has been promoted to editor.

Independent Publishers Group, promoted Tim McCall to SVP of sales and marketing.

At Audible, Kristin Lang has been promoted to head of global audible book acquisitions, leading the company’s efforts to acquire exclusive audiobooks and audio-first literary titles. Reporting to Lang, Louise Quayle will lead Audible Books acquisitions for North America as director. Ridhima Thakral will lead for APAC as director, Audible Books Acquisitions, APAC.

At Celadon, Alex Cruz-Jimenez has joined as marketing manager. She was previously at Viking and Penguin Books.

At Harlequin Intrigue, Susan Litman has been promoted to senior editor.

At Books-A-Million, Brandon Waters has been promoted to chief information officer.

At Catapult Book Group, Victoria Maxfield has been promoted to junior designer.

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DULY NOTED

The 2025 International Booker Prize Longlist was announced February 25th. This year’s list consists of 11 novels and 2 short stories. The short-list will be announced April 8th and the ceremony will take place on May 20th.

Herman Graf, the longtime publisher and key figure in the independent press movement, died at 91.

Joseph Wambaugh, acclaimed ‘cop writer’ and author of ‘The Onion Field’, died at 88.

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EVENTS

Mar 4th

Audie Awards

New York, NY

Mar 7-15th

South by Southwest

Austin, TX

March 11-13

London Book Fair