PEOPLE
At Simon & Schuster, Ricki Blaustein has joined as adult demand planning coordinator. Kayah Hodge has joined as digital marketing associate. She was previously a marketing assistant at Macmillan.
At Penguin Random House, Annette Kiesow has joined Random House Children’s Books as photo editor for National Geographic Kids. At PRH Christian, Emily Loper has joined as marketing designer, and Olivia Peitsch has joined as assistant director of marketing. At Crown, Elora Weil has joined as senior publicity manager. She was previously a senior publicist at Knopf.
At Macmillan, Jessica Thurber has joined Macmillan Audio as publicist.
At Scholastic, Milena Alberti and Anne Clarke Wolff have been appointed to the board as independent directors. Directors John L. Davies and David J. Young have stepped down.
At Open Road Integrated Media, Hema Sukhram has joined as senior accountant.
At Ingram, Giuliana Caranante, formerly director of marketing and publicity at Quarto, has joined as director of marketing and e-commerce.
At Steerforth & Pushkin Press, Frankie Karnedy has joined as marketing and sales operations manager.
At Zando, Ava Shaffer has joined as editorial assistant for Slowburn and Original Development. Tiffani Ren is joining as marketing manager.
At Tin House, Laura Schmitt is joining as editorial assistant.
At Baker Publishing Group, Jennifer Guo has joined Baker Academic as acquisitions associate. Kristen Padilla has joined as acquisitions editor.
At Page One Media, Bella Gibb has joined as publicity and marketing assistant.
At Haymarket Books, Michelle Betters has joined as senior publicist. She was previously at Verso.
At Arcadia Publishing, Melody Beacher has joined as COO.
At Poets & Writers, author Christina Baker Kline and EVP, chief legal officer at Penguin Random House Anke Steinecke have joined the board of directors.
At Medill Books, Agate Publishing will pair with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications to publish reported nonfiction books written by journalists, starting in late 2026.
At the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, AWP made Michelle Aielli executive director of the organization as of July 1. They previously served as interim executive director since September 2024. Prior to joining, Aielli was VP and publishing director at Hachette Books.
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In Agency News…
At Regal Hoffmann & Associates, Paul Lucas has joined as literary agent.
At K. Co Press, Lauren Owens has joined K. Co Press as its 2025 editorial fellow.
At KO Media Management, Veronica Grijalva has been promoted to literary agent for foreign language works. She will also continue her role as international licensing manager.
At MacGregor & Luedeke Collaborative, Bethany Jett has joined as literary agent. She was previously at the C.Y.L.E. Agency.
At Franklin & Siegal Associates, President Todd R. Siegal will retire at the end f 2025 after 39 years in book scouting. Danny Yanez will take over as president on January 1 and the agency will be renamed Franklin Siegal & Yanez.
At Laura Dail Literary Agency, Aashna Avachat has joined as an associate agent.
At Talcott Notch Literary Services, Nadia Lynch, junior agency and agency coordinator, will be assuming the additional role of agency author event liaison.
At Jackson Literary Agency, author and literary agent Michelle Jackson has launched her own agency. Sobi Burbano has joined as an associate agent.
At Jaberwocky, Sam Morgan has rejoined the agency, in a new position as their first book-to-film rights agent. Most recently he was at The Lotts Agency before taking a hiatus from publishing.
At Ampersand Agency, Katie Blagden and Abigail Fenton have joined as agents. Blagden was previously at the Bright Agency and Fenton was previously editorial director at HQ Digital and a freelance editor.
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PROMOTIONS
At Penguin Random House, Mary Baker and Candice Coote have been promoted to associate editor at Berkley. Lauren Stuart has been promoted to assistant editor at Random House Books for Young Readers. At Putnam, Shina Patel has been promoted to senior marketing manager. At PRH Corporate Bookmaking, Stephen Ryan has been promoted to publishing manager, Paul Gilbert has been promoted to senior managing editor, and Toni Marotta has been promoted to senior manager. Toni Marotta will also be the senior manager at KDPG Production.
At Hachette Book Group, Michael Coulter has been promoted to editor at Union Square & Co..
At HarperCollins, Michelle Lecumberry is being promoted to senior marketing manager at William Morrow. Danielle Yadao has been promoted to associate director or marketing. Shannon Cox has been promoted to manager, marketing. Kelly Haberstroh has been promoted to publicist. Paige Pagan has been promoted to assistant editor for Clarion Books. Gretchen Schmid has been promoted to senior marketing manager. Alfredo Fee has been promoted to associate editor at Harper Via. Julia Negrete has been promoted to associate editor at Harper Collins Español.
At Sourcebooks, Valerie Pierce has been promoted to VP, independent sales and retail marketing.
At Ingram, Devyn Nance has been promoted to senior manager of digital marketing.
At Baker Publishing Group, Dustyn Elizabeth Keepers has been promoted to acquisitions editor at Baker Academic.
At New Directions, Declan Spring has been promoted to executive vice president. Christopher Wait has been promoted to VP, director of subrights and permissions, and editor. Tynana Kogane has been promoted to editor in chief. Mieke Chew has been promoted to executive director of publicity and senior editor. Maya Solovej has been promoted to publicity manager and associate editor. Oliver Preston has been promoted to production associate.
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DULY NOTED
NYU School of Professional Studies opened registration for its Third Annual NYU Advanced Publishing Institute, a five-day immersive executive education program, taking place January 5-9, 2026. Click here to register
HarperCollins announced that it will acquire the French and German based manga publishing operations of Crunchyroll. The transaction is set to close in the second half of 2025. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The team will be led by senior publishing director Hideki Iyama-Desseigne, who will report to Chantal Restivo-Alessi, CEO of international foreign language publishing at HarperCollins. The day-to-day operations will be supported by HarperCollins France and HarperCollins Germany.
Berkley and Penguin Children’s are partnering to launch Berkley Crossover (Berkley XO), “a boutique imprint publishing titles with crossover appeal for both adult and young adult readers”. The imprint will publish 10 titles a year.
In Memoriam
Katie Cunningham, the children’s book publisher of Nosy Crow Inc. and former associate publisher of Candlewick Press, died on July 4th following complications from ovarian cancer. She was 43. . In lieu of flowers, her family has suggested donations in Katie’s memory to the Pan Mass Challenge: Katie’s Ride, Team Ovarian Cancer, MGH Cancer Center, or the Center for Coastline Studies. Memories of Katie, which are being compiled to share with her family, friends, and colleagues, may be emailed here.
Sophie Stabile, CFO of Lagardere, died on July 16th after a longtime illness. She was 55.
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EVENTS
July 18- August 3rd
Lima, PE
July 24-27th
San Diego, CA
July 24-27th
Writer’s Digest Annual Conference
Linthicum Heights, MD
July 30th
Lambda Literary Awards Finalist Announcement
Jul 30th- Aug 3rd
Paraty International Literary Festival (FLIP)
Paraty, BR
