People
At Simon and Schuster, they are merging the Atria and Gallery publishing groups, including Summit, Simon Element, and Adams Media imprints, creating Atria Gallery Publishing Group, announced to employees on Tuesday, May 26th. Libby McGuire will become publisher and executive vice president of the group and continue to lead Atria. Gallery evp, publisher Jen Bergstrom, Summit evp, publisher Judy Clain, Simon Element vp, publisher Richard Rhorer, and Adams vp, publisher Karen Cooper will report to McGuire. The merge included layoffs for four employees including Scout Press executive editor Alison Callahan and Gallery vp, executive editor Pamela Cannon.
Celia Guerra has been appointed to the new position of chief of staff at S&S. She has been senior director, business operations & inventory management. Erica Eatmon has joined in the new role of senior vice president of data and decision intelligence. Eatmon was previously chief data officer at Thrasio and at McGraw Hill Education for over a decade. Senior editor at the flagship imprint Yahdon Israel will leave on June 4. At Simon Element, executive editor Samantha Weiner has left her position to move into co-writing and ghostwriting.
The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) names Allison Belan as their next executive director. She is succeeding Brian O’Leary, who retires from the role on June 30th. Belan joins BISG after 22 years at Duke University Press, where she was most recently the director of strategic innovation and services.
At Sourcebooks, SVP and editorial director Todd Stocke retired on May 15, after over three decades at the company. Jennifer Gonzalez becomes SVP and publishing director, overseeing editorial strategy across all Sourcebooks publishing divisions, both kids and adult.
At HBG’s Basic Books Group Brianna Yamashita has joined as senior director of marketing. Most recently, she was executive marketing director at Scribner. At Running Press, Jenni Zellner joins as editor. She was most recently editor at Lonely Planet.
At Random House Publishing Group, Elizabeth Hitti Musicant has joined the Dial Delights team as an editor, reporting to editorial director Emma Caruso. Musicant was previously at Atria Books. Random House has Erica Henegen moving to The Dial Press as director of marketing. Henegen was most recently director of marketing at Out of Print. At Random House Publishing Services, Tamara Gomez joins as associate, client operations, reporting to Brianne Fong. She was previously operations coordinator and bookseller at The Book Catapult in San Diego. Dial Delights has Elizabeth Hitti Musicant joining as an editor. At Viking Penguin, publisher of Penguin Books, Patrick Nolan, will be leaving in June after 26 years with the company. He has served as publisher since 2021.
Harper Collins has Morgan Pager joining as senior director, marketing for Avon.
At W.W. Norton, Josh Kendall joins building a new fiction list in crime, horror, and suspense as executive editor in the trade imprint. Kendall was previously editorial director at Mulholland Books. Rachel Goodman joins as senior associate editor on the trade editorial team, moving from the academic marketing department.
The National Book Foundation has elected four new members to its Board of Directors: Greg Greeley, ceo, Simon & Schuster; Franklin Leonard, founder & ceo, The Black List; Elizabeth McNamara, partner, Davis Wright Tremaine; and Miwa Messer, executive producer of author events and content, Barnes & Noble. Colin McDonald has joined as senior digital manager and Lauren Mullen has joined as senior manager of awards & honors.
Chronicle Books has Elise Johnson joining as associate editor for art & entertainment.
Macmillan Children’s has Emma Schoeni joining as junior designer. At Tor, Eden Railsback has joined as an associate editor. She was previously at Harper Collins.
Within Compendium, Sarah Easton joins as director of business & product strategy. She was most recently Finance Director at Macmillan. Kara Goodier joins us as executive editor. Goodier was most recently at Hallmark. Dienesa Le joins as editor. She previously worked at Studio Fun International and Silver Dolphin Books.
Open Road Integrated Media has Hannah Moseley joining the audience team in the newly created position of senior manager, reader experience.
The TVS Media Group has Noreen Herits joining as vice president of publicity. She was most recently vice president, executive director of publicity and media strategy at Random House Children’s.
Quirk Books has Jordan Wannemacher joining as creative director.
In Agency News…
At UTA, Marisol Salaman joins the corporate communications team, working across the publishing and media rights divisions.
Tobias Literary Agency promotes Danai Christopoulou to associate literary agent.
Bookends Literary Agency promotes James McGowan to director of BookEnds Jr., in addition to his duties as senior literary agent.
At Helm Literary, Nour Sallam joins as a literary agent. She was previously at The Caldwell Agency.
Lowenstein Associates has Ava Grayson joining as literary agent. She was previously editor at Quill & Flame Publishing House.
Philippa Donovan is launching Two Script Studio, a new agency that will focus on “reverse adaptations.” The agency will facilitate producers and screenwriters turning film and tv projects into novels early in their development.
At Trellis Literary Management, Allison Malecha has become an equity partner joining founding partners Michelle Brower, Allison Hunter, and Stephanie Delman. Malecha will continue as director of foreign rights and a literary agent with a small domestic list. Tori Clayton has been promoted to subsidiary rights manager.
The Future of Agency has Stefani Szenda joining as marketing manager.
At Seymour Agency, Sarah Kelleher has joined as a literary agent. She was previously the vice president & director of young adult/children’s scouting at Maria B. Campbell Associates. Lesley Sabga has been promoted to vice president of the agency. She was previously media rights manager.
The Transatlantic Literary Agency promotes Trudi Vaughan to assistant agent.
David Black Literary Agency has Tim Wojcik joining as foreign rights director. He previously was rights director at Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency. Susan Raihofer, who was previously rights director and domestic agent for over 30 years, is now solely representing domestic clients, focusing on commercial fiction and nonfiction.
At Fuse Literary, Garrett Alwert has joined as a literary agent. He was previously at Emerald City Literary Agency.
Promotions
Promotions at Penguin Random House include Nidhi Pugalia to senior editor at Viking and Gaelyn Galbreath to production manager for Dutton, Putnam, Plume, and Tiny Reparations. Nina Brown has been promoted to associate production manager at penguin publishing group. At Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vimi Santokhi has been promoted to executive managing editor and Anne Achenbaum has been promoted to senior managing editor. Melissa Yoon has been promoted to senior production editor. Jessica Heim has been promoted to senior production manager at Crown Publishing Group. Random House Children’s promotes Lizzy Indek to senior production associate, Maggie Gibson to production manager, Gaby Corzo to senior managing editor, and Jayne Ziemba to executive managing editor. Taylor Belgrade has been promoted to associate, school & library marketing. Penguin Random House Publishing Services promotes Patrick Guaschino to director of sales, national accounts. Random House promotes Madison Dettlinger to senior manager, marketing. Avery Books and Tarcher promote Neda Dallal to assistant marketing director.
Bloomsbury promotions include Grace McNamee to executive editor and Harriet LeFavour to senior editor, adult trade division. Andrew Nguyen has been promoted to senior rights manager. Michelle Zeng has been promoted to sales manager.
At Harper Collins, Rich Thomas has been promoted to SVP, group publisher of Harper Children’s. Heidi Richter is promoted to VP, marketing and publicity for Harper Children’s. May Chen and Tessa Woodward have been promoted to vp, publishers of the newly formed Avon Group, which includes the Harper Voyager, Avon A, and Avon imprints.
Macmillan Children’s promotes Aurora Parlagreco to senior art director.
At DK Red, Fritha Saunders has been promoted to publisher.
Compendium promotes Amelia Riedler to executive editor. Windy Dorresteyn, vp & deputy publisher for Crown Illustrated, is also named publishing director for Compendium.
Park Row Books promotes Leah Mol to editor.
Two Lines Press promotes Sarah Coolidge to senior editor.
The National Book Foundation promotes Ale Romero to director of marketing & communications.
Duly Noted
Hachette Book Group releases a statement that they have launched a campaign in opposition of their employees’ recent unionization. They had declined to recognize the union created by the Hachette Workers Coalition earlier this month and have placed flyers in office common places and company portals. Pub Lunch reports that one of the flyers reads “We want the best for every employee at HBG. We also care deeply about protecting the culture we have worked hard to build together: one where people can raise concerns directly, where leaders are expected to listen, and where we can continue making meaningful progress…. We do not believe a union gives us the best path to building the kind of workplace we all want. Our view is that we are strongest when we work directly with one another, continue improving together, and keep building a culture where employees feel heard, supported, and valued.”. Another post warns employees what could be lost in negotiations, such as work flexibility, competitive pay, bonuses, and more.