PEOPLE
At Simon & Schuster, Cynthia Lin has joined the adult demand planning group as demand planning coordinator. Jason LaCoursier will join as vice president of distribution operations on December 15. He succeeds vice president of operations & distribution services Pat Kelman, who will retire at the end of the year. Kelman has been at the company for 35 years.
Hachette announced that Mary Beth Thomas will join as director, field sales, overseeing the independent bookstore channel. She was most recently director of independent retail sales at HarperCollins, where she led the national field sales and telesales team. Within Grand Central, Kitanna Hiromasa has joined as a publicist. She was previously at Riverhead.
At Viking Penguin, Alexis Nowicki has joined as a senior publicist. She was previously at Astra House.
Macmillan has hired Trish O’Neill as director, D2C marketing & ecommerce strategy, central marketing. Anthony Trezza joined as senior director, finance. Shareza Hosein joined as QA analyst, technology. Juliana Kelm joined as UAT coordinator, technology. Flatiron Books brings on Elysia Liang as senior editor acquiring practical nonfiction. She was previously at Harmony, Rodale, and Convergent.
Robert Allen, vp, associate publisher at Macmillan Audio, will retire on January 1, 2026 after sixteen years with the company. Within FSG Children’s, Nancy Conescu has joined as editorial director. Most recently she was publisher at Australia’s Berbay Books.
At The University of North Carolina Press Andrew Kinney has joined as the W. Hodding Carter III executive editor, leading acquisitions for the trade imprint dedicated to publishing books about America and the world. He had been at MIT Press.
At Holt, Fiora Elbers-Tibbitts has joined as publishing operations manager. She was previously at Neuwirth & Associates.
Sourcebooks brings on Nicole Turner as production specialist II.
Beth Whitaker has been named executive director of the Hudson Valley Writers Center.
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In Agency News…
At Calligraph, Eric Lupfer joins as a principal agent, bringing his list of journalists, historians, science writers, and experts across numerous fields. He was previously at UTA.
Martin Literary Management brings on Robert Broder as literary manager representing children’s literature and graphic novels. He is the founder and former publisher of Ripple Grove Press. Lindsey Aduskevich has joined as literary manager representing picture books, middle grade, young adult, and new adult. She was most recently an intern at MLM. Jeanne de Vita has joined as literary manager representing romance, romantasy, and select genre fiction. She is a former acquisitions editor and writing teacher.
At Purcell Agency Amy Nielsen has been promoted to senior literary agent. Paige Broadbent has been promoted to associate literary agent.
Massie McQuilkin & Altman Literary Agents brings on Elianna Kan as a literary agent. She was previously at Regal Hoffmann & Associates.
At Nancy Yost Literary Agency, Melissa Rodman has joined as associate agent and agency assistant. She was previously at Park, Fine, & Brower Literary Management.
Ingram Content Group has Alexander Slater joining as manager of Media Scout. He will “help bridge the gap between content and screen—connecting creators, rights buyers, and storytellers across industries.” Slater was an agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
At The Bent Agency, Zoë Plant has joined as a literary agent. She was previously at The Bent Agency UK.
Metamorphosis Literary Agency promotes Shania Soler to agent. Kaylyn Aldridge is promoted to junior agent. Brian King is a new assistant agent specializing in the science fiction genre.
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PROMOTIONS
Random House Publishing Group promotes Katherine Leak to editor, working primarily for the Harmony and Rodale imprints, with the flexibility to acquire across three imprints. Leita Williams has been promoted to editor for Convergent. In publicity, Erin Richards has been promoted to publicity manager, Rachel Parker has been promoted to senior publicist, Hope Hathcock has been promoted to publicist, and Peter Dyer has been promoted to associate publicist.
Gallery Publishing Group publisher Jennifer Bergstrom has been promoted to executive vice president of Simon & Schuster, while continuing to lead the Gallery Publishing Group.
Promotions at Sourcebooks include Diana Schmidt to marketing associate for Casablanca and Bloom Books.
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DULY NOTED
Porter Anderson has passed away, it was announced on the Publishing Perspectives website today. The site noted that “Anderson took on the role at Publishing Perspectives in 2016, succeeding Founding Editor Ed Nawotka. As Editor-in-Chief, Anderson traveled the world, moderating industry discussions, reporting on new and established markets, highlighting changes in technology, celebrating publishers and writers doing excellent work, and engaging with an international audience eager to learn more about the publishing industry beyond their borders. . . . Juergen Boos, Director of Frankfurter Buchmesse said of Porter’s passing, “All of us who have known him personally over the past few years, who admired him for his expertise, his journalistic experience, loved him for his humor and admired his high professional ethics and his seemingly inexhaustible energy – we are all saddened and shocked by this news. There are no words or thoughts that can adequately express our feelings. The void left by his death cannot yet be fully measured.””
Bloomsbury announced a new strategic collaboration with Google Cloud focused on technology innovation, AI-powered learning and core publishing infrastructure. The collaboration will combine Bloomsbury’s publishing with secure AI technologies from Google Cloud, such as NotebookLM, Vertex AI and Gemini Enterprise. The collaboration will “ increase the discovery and sales of books, as well as transform engagement with content to improve learning outcomes.” according to Bloomsbury Chief Executive Nigel Newton.
The Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) named Sarah Lazin as the winner of their annual Gailey Award, the organization’s highest service honor.
Someone posing as a Grove Atlantic employee has been contacting authors by email to offer a publishing contract under false pretenses. The publisher is taking steps to try to identify and stop the illicit outreach under Grove’s name. If you are contacted in this manner, Grove would like to hear from you either at 212-614-7850 or at info@groveatlantic.com.
Jemiscoe Chambers-Black, Paige Terlip, and Jennifer March Soloway have launched a new agency, Starling Literary + Media, representing children’s authors and illustrators and adult fiction and nonfiction projects. They were previously at Andrea Brown.
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EVENTS
December 13th-14th
Los Angeles, CA
December 13th-14th
World Caribbean Christmas Book Fair
The Bahamas
December 19th-21st
Chicago, IL
