People Round Up, February 2026

PEOPLE

At Penguin Random House, Christine Hung has joined the strategic projects group as senior director, reporting to vp George Kantor. She previously led marketing at Vintage.

Macmillan’s publisher-at-large, Will Schwalbe, will retire from his role effective January 31 to concentrate full-time on writing books. He will continue working with Macmillan as an advisor.

At Hachette Book Group, Michelle Howry joins as editorial director of Little Brown Spark. She was most recently executive editor at Putnam. Current vp, editorial director of Little Brown Spark, Talia Krohn, will leave the company on February 20. Publisher of the line Michael Szczerban will shift his attention entirely to his role as vp, publisher of Voracious. Aya Elamroussi joins HBG as director of communications. Forever brings on Ghjulia Romiti as senior editor, reporting to publisher Leah Hultenschmidt. At Little Brown Ink, Rachel Stark will join as senior editor. They were most recently at Disney-Hyperion.

At Ingram Lightning Source, Sarah High joins as senior key account sales manager moving over from the Ingram Publisher Services marketing team. For Ingram Library Services, Zuanarda “Z” Causey has been named director of sales. Most recently he was sales director at SirsiDynix. Also joining as business development managers Michael Erving and Margaret Hansen, inside sales specialist Harley Beckmann, systems integration specialists Teresa Eldred and Austin Wolfe, and technical service specialists Amy Guerrero and Amanda Bimson.

Julianna Markus has joined Simon and Schuster as manager, advertising & paid digital media. She was previously a senior account executive of paid media at Burson Global Communications Agency. Colin Harrison, vice president and editorial director, has resigned.

At Sourcebooks, Sarah Alli has joined as audio marketing strategy specialist. Kelsey Young has joined as manager, subsidiary rights.

Zando brings on Jennifer Chung as head of legal, reporting to Molly Stern. Chung was previously vice president & counsel at Simon & Schuster.

At St. Martin’s Publishing Group, Lydia Rasmussen has joined as a publicist. She was previously a senior publicist at Smith Publicity.

Bookwire brings on Andrew Weinstein as US country manager. Weinstein succeeds Brittyne Lewis, who will transition to a sales position.

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In Agency News…

The agency Jane Starr Literary Scouts has been appointed as the US scout for Newton Compton Spain.

Rosecliff Literary brings on Shannon Snow as agent. She was most recently a literary agent and audio subrights manager at Creative Media Agency.

At Stonesong, Melissa Edwards has been named managing partner of the agency.

Ginger Clark Literary promotes Maria C. Ministeri to associate agent.

At David Black Agency, Abby Walters joins, focusing on upmarket/book club and literary fiction. She was previously at CAA.

Within Fortier PR, Felicia Sinusas has joined as assistant publicity director. She was previously at Harvard Business Review Press.

At Aaron Priest Literary Agency, Aaron Priest, founder and owner, announced his retirement. Senior agent Mitch Hoffman becomes the new owner and president of the agency. Natalie Rosselli has been promoted to associate agent and will build her own list of clients.

Calligraph has Jane McGehee joining as an agent and foreign rights manager. She was most recently a deputy literary scout at Jenny La Plante.

At Lucinda Literary, Michael Kaler has been promoted to associate agent.

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PROMOTIONS

Simon and Schuster promotes Grace Rambo to assistant director, advertising & paid digital media, and Dalia Baban to manager, advertising & paid digital media.

St. Martin’s Publishing Group promotes Char Dreyer to assistant editor.

At The Morrow Group, promotions include Allison Carney and Kelsey Manning, both to executive director of marketing. DJ DeSmyter has been promoted to senior director of marketing and brand strategy. Lara Baez has been promoted to assistant director of marketing and publicity. Katie Tull has been promoted to senior director. Farah Reza has been promoted to associate director. Megan Wilson has been promoted to senior director of publicity. Kaitlin Harri has been promoted to associate publisher, Morrow fiction. Emily Zhu has been promoted to senior associate, digital marketing & social media. Luke Porter has been promoted to senior manager of video. Deanna Bailey has been promoted to senior associate, marketing. Paige Meintzer has been promoted to assistant editor, and Nicole Braun has been promoted to assistant editor, William Morrow.

At Harper Collins, Maddie Pillari has been promoted to senior editor. Harper One Group promotes Stephen Brayda to senior art director, Sarah Kellogg to assistant art director, Julia DiMarzo-Cohen to assistant art director, Alison Cerri to senior publicist, and Ashley Candelario to publicist. Harper Collin’s Children’s promotes Mikayla Lawrence to senior production editor.

At Tor Publishing Group, Anthony Parisi has been promoted to director of marketing. Jordan Hanley has been promoted to associate director of marketing. Emily Honer has been promoted to associate marketing manager. Yvonne Ye has been promoted to associate manager of ad/promo. Cassian McConnell has been promoted to associate, marketing operations. Jocelyn Bright has been promoted to publicist, and Sarah Weeks has been promoted to associate publicist.

Macmillan promotions include Jennifer Edwards has been promoted to SVP, field sales, author events, wholesale, library marketing, and sales strategy. John Edwards has been promoted to SVP, trade retail sales, Canada, academic marketing & international sales. Ansley Kent has been promoted to national accounts manager, sales. Erin Powell has been promoted to associate, field sales marketing sales. Heather Hili has been promoted to associate general counsel, legal. Alison Macke has been promoted to manager, promotions and data privacy, legal. Rena Segall has been promoted to manager, compliance & anti-piracy, legal. Becca Ramsey has been promoted to senior cost accountant, accounting. Zeinab Saleh has been promoted to senior associate, payroll. Corbin Whitaker has been promoted to manager, finance. Cathy Turiano has been promoted to senior manager, production. Hope Hushon has been promoted to manager, production. Ethan Tolpin has been promoted to senior manager, sustainability. Jeanette Cajas has been promoted to associate manager, human resources. Becks Perez has been promoted to associate, human resources. Claudia Bergin joined as product owner, publishing systems. Jason Catlett joined as a data architect, platform development. Lia Ding joined as manager, international sales. Chelsea LaPlante recently joined as senior manager, inventory, inventory planning. Jennifer Ukegbu joined as product manager & application support, technology. Promotions at Macmillan Children’s include Kristen Stedman to senior production editor, Samia Garcia-Fakih to senior editor at First Second, Nicolás Ore-Giron to associate editor at Roaring Brook Press, and Asia Harden to associate editor at FSG Children’s. At Farrar Straus, Ben Brooks has been promoted to associate editor at MCD and FSG. Hannah Goodwin has been promoted to managing editor, Picador. Lauren Hutton has been promoted to publicity associate.

Within Penguin Press, John Burnham Schwartz has been promoted to executive editor.

At Kensington, Ericka McIntyre has been promoted to senior editor, acquiring fiction related to the American West and Rural America.

Gotham Ghostwriters announced a new leadership structure with the promotion of COO Alison Schwartz to president of the agency.

Chooseco promotes Eamon Dunn to associate editor.

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DULY NOTED

The American Bookseller’s Association names Donya Craddock, co-owner of The Dock Bookshop in Texas, to the board. Craddock is up for election for the 2026-2029 term, along with John Cavalier, co-owner of Cavalier House Books in Louisiana.

The Frankfurt Book Fair announced that Juergen Boos will step down as president and ceo of Frankfurt Book Fair after the 2026 edition of the fair this October. He has held the role for more than 20 years. Joachim Kaufmann will succeed him as president and ceo. Kaufmann was previously the longtime ceo Carlsen Verlag.

Publishers Weekly and Publishers Lunch report that Simon & Schuster has instituted layoffs as they “adjust to the market and focus on growth areas” according to a Simon & Schuster spokesperson. The layoffs in the children’s division include Laurent Linn, art director, Anna Jarzab, associate publisher of the licensed, novelty, and branded publishing group, and Rebecca Kuss, executive editor at Aladdin. Eamon Dolan, VP and executive editor at the flagship S&S imprint, is also listed in the layoffs. Editors Emily Simonson and Mindy Marques, along with Rebecca Strobel at Gallery and Melissa Milsten at Black Privilege/Atria are all also listed. Other high-profile editors let go included Scribner’s editorial director Colin Harrison, and Atria executive editor Nick Ciani. The layoffs currently include about 15 employees. They also reported layoffs at Hachette Book Group, including Joshua Kendall, editorial director of the Mulholland Books imprint, and Nadxieli Nieto, who helped reinvent the Algonquin imprint as editorial director.

At The Association of American Publishers, Chronicle president Tyrrell Mahoney has been elected as chair of the board for the 2026-2027 term. Mahoney succeeds Harper Collins ceo Brian Murray, who will remain an officer in the position of immediate past chair. ACS Publications president James Milne was elected vice chair. Chair of Elsevier and director of corporate affairs for the RELX Group, Youngsuk ‘YS’ Chi, was elected treasurer.

A memoriam for Chuck Adams, a longtime editor at Algonquin, Simon & Schuster, and Dell, will be held February 24th at the Hachette Book Group NYC offices.

Duke University Press celebrates 100 years in 2026. Founded in 1921 at Trinity College Press, then becoming Duke University Press in 1926.

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EVENTS

Jan 26th- Feb 3rd

Kolkata International Book Fair

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Feb 12-15th

San Francisco Writers Conference

San Francisco, CA

Feb 13-15h

Love Y’all Fest

Atlanta, GA