People Round Up, Mid February, 2024

PEOPLE

Colin Shields, VP and executive director of global and international sales, is leaving Simon SchusterLaura Perciasepe, formerly senior editor at Riverhead Books/PRH, is joining Summit Books/S&S as executive editor.

 

Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray will move from HarperCollins to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group on April 15 They will set up a new iteration of the Balzer + Bray imprint with both having the title of SVP and co-publisher.

 

Kirsty Melville  was named CEO at Andrew McMeel Universal, the third person in the company’s 54 year history that has assumed this role. She will oversee all AMU operations while continuing to serve as president and publisher of Andrew McMeel Publishing.

 

Mark Warner is joining HarperCollins Christian Publishing as VP of business development and operations. Rachel Molland has joined Harper as senior publicist. She was previously a publicist at Basic Books and Seal Press.

 

At Hachette Book Group, Sally Kim will join Little, Brown as president and publisher on March 4, leaving her current role as SVP publisher at Putnam/PRH. Current Little, Brown publisher Bruce Nichols will leave his position on March 1. Brianne Oliva, formerly marketing and publicity intern at Workman, is joining Basic Books as marketing assistant.

 

In other Penguin Random House news, SVP for distribution in Maryland Vince Annoreno will retire on October 1 after 35 years at the company. Katie Burton has joined Random House Children’s Books as senior associate for social media. Kelsey Curtis has joined Vintage, as senior publicist. She was previously publicity manager at DK US. Sara Hayet has joined Doubleday as publicist, she was previously associate publicist at Zando. Dara Sheere and Jasmin Shin have joined Penguin Random House Canada as marketing coordinator. John Castillanes has joined as advertising coordinator. Rebecca Rocillo has joined as editorial assistant for McClelland & Stewart.

 

Daniela Rapp has joined Skyhorse Publishing as executive editor. She was previously Mayo Clinic Press.

 

Priti Sharma has joined Chronicle Books as sales assistant for mass market. Jocelyn Shratter has joined as sales and marketing enablement assistant.

 

Madison Gaines has joined  ‘Shelf Awareness’ as publishing assistant.

 

At Open Road Integrated Media, Marco Tulio Cherulli Borges is joining as data engineer. 

 

Drew Gruss has been made co-owner of Microcosm Publishing. Kandi Zeller has joined as editor. David Geiser has joined the fulfillment team and Daley Farr has joined as marketing and publicity supervisor.

 

Stephanie Wells has been appointed executive editor of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.

At Maria B. Campbell, Kaylee Hirzel-Duff has been promoted to junior scout.

 

In Agency News…

Sarah Brown has joined C&W, part of the Curtis Brown Group as agent, she was previously an agent at United Agents

 

Ultra Literary, Elizabeth Aaron has joined as foreign rights director and operations manager. She was previously editorial assistant at Book of the Month and scout at KF Literary Scouting. Joanna Rasheed has joined as assistant literary agent, she was previously assistant and rights coordinator at Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency. Lane Clarke, previously agent at Arthouse Literary Agency has joined as agent.

 

Maria Napolitano has joined KT Literary as foreign rights manager and agent.

 

At Storm Literary Agency, Heather Cashman has been promoted to senior literary agent. Lisa Amstutz has been promoted to literary agent. Michelle Hauck has been promoted to literary agent.

 

PROMOTIONS

At HarperCollins, Camille Smaby, has been promoted to senior marketing manager at HarperCollins Publishers. HarperCollins Children’s Books has promoted Shannon Cox to senior marketing associate, Michael D’Angelo, Lauren Tambini, and  Emily Mannon to senior marketing manager. 

 

Elizabeth Trout has been promoted to editor at Kensington Books.

 

At Penguin Random House, Lance Fitzgerald has been promoted to senior VP of content and business development at Penguin Random Audio. Abby Nutter has been promoted to senior editor at Penguin Random House Audio. Leah Jackson has been promoted to associate editor. Lauren Diaz Morgan has been promoted to senior manager of licensing and business development. Tara Hart  has been promoted to senior manager of backlist and art rights and permissions at Penguin Random House Audio. Random House Children’s Books has promoted Jenn Inzetta to associate director of audience engagement strategy. Meredith Wagner has been promoted to senior manager of social media strategy at Random House Children’s Books. Penguin Random House Canada, Cherly Nurse has been promoted to royalty accountant manager. Naomi Pinn has been promoted to senior contracts manager. Jamie Steep has been promoted to contracts associate. Emma Dolan and Andrew Roberts have been promoted to senior designer. Noah Kahansky has been promoted to studio coordinator. Melody Tacit has been promoted to academic sales manager. Hilary Lo has been promoted to assistant editor at Knopf Canada. Dulce Rosales has been promoted to senior manager for advertising services at Penguin Random House Canada. Viking Penguin has promoted Allie Merola to editor. Tina Ruppert is promoted to VP, distribution, for Maryland, succeeding Annoreno and reporting to senior vice president, distribution Lori De Reza. At Crown Publishing, Hannah Hunt has been promoted to senior prepress associate. Nick Patton has been promoted to prepress manager. Dan Meyers has been promoted to production manager. Terry Deal has been promoted to associate director, production editorial. Patricia Shaw has been promoted to associate director, production editorial, and digital copy chief. Joyce Wong has been promoted to executive production editor. Sohayla Farman has been promoted to production editor. Liza Stepanovich has been promoted to assistant managing editor.

 

At Simon & Schuster, Molly Gregory has been promoted to senior editor at Gallery Books.

 

Leo PR has promoted Molly Mitchell to associate publicist.

 

Heyday has promoted Marthine Satris to senior acquisitions editor.

DULY NOTED

Amelia Possanza and Brittani Hilles have launched Lavender Public Relations, a literary public relations agency that is “aimed at uplifting and building long-term careers for queer and feminist voices across genres”. Previously Possanza was associate director at Flatiron Books and Hilles was senior publicity manager at William Morrow.

 

EVENTS

Feb 19-23

San Miguel Writers Conference

Guanajuato, Mexico

 

Feb 20-25

Taipei International Book Exhibition

Taipei City, TPE

 

Feb 28

Audio Publishers Association Conference

Virtual

Feb 29- Mar 3

Emerald City ComicCon 

Seattle, WA

Mar 9

Pasadena Festival of Women Authors 

Pasadena, CA

Mar 12-14

The London Book Fair

London, ENG

Mar 14-16

New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University

New Orleans, LA

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 02/12-02/16

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

OpenAi Book Lawsuit Has Been Partially Dismissed, Why?

 

An Insider Look at The World’s Largest Comics Library

 

How Americans Fell in Love With Romance Bookstores

 

Controversy Continues Around Hugo Awards    

Florida Governor Calls for Reforms on Book Bans

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 02/05-02/09

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

The Ghostwriter of Biden’s Memoir is Being Investigated, Why?  

 

Will Ai Make Writing Collaborative?

 

All in The Family- Letters Between Charles Dickens and His Sister-in-Law Go On Display 

 

Banning The Book Bans- How Virginia Lawmakers are Trying to Protect Books

 

NY Joins Other States in Changing The Way Kids Learn to Read 

 

People Round Up, Early February, 2024

PEOPLE

Bloomsbury Publishing has appointed Sabrina McCarthy as president of Bloomsbury US, effective in early April.  McCarthy will report to CEO Nigel Newton and also sit on Bloomsbury’s global executive committee. Previously, she was the VP and general manager of Ingram Publisher Services.  See Promotions, below, for changes at Ingram.  

Senior editor Daniel Loedel is leaving Bloomsbury to freelance edit and write. His last day will be February 9th.

Macmillan president, sales & marketing, Jennifer Gonzalez, has been named SVP publisher of Sourebooks children’s books.  

 

At Simon & Schuster, founding publisher of One Signal, Julia Cheiffetz, has left Simon & Schuster. Atria says the line will continue to operate under a new publisher. Yaniv Soha has joined Atria Books and Simon & Schuster as executive editor. 

 

At Penguin Random House’s imprint, Portfolio, Casey Ebro joins as executive editor, reporting to Niki Papadopoulos. She was previously at the business group of McGraw Hill ProfessionalJulie Leung joins Random House Worlds as deputy publisher. She was previously at Disney. At Harmony Rodale, Kelly Doyle joins as publicity manager. She was previously at Harper. At Berkeley, Lisa Bonvissuto has joined as editor. Phoebe Yeh has been named vice president, editor-at-large, Crown Children’sRandom House Children’s Linda Palladino, SVP, director of production, will retire on March 31. Matthew Hoang has joined Penguin Random House Audio as operations assistant. Kelly Gildea has been named director of audio production and creative partner development at Penguin Random House Audio. Julie Wilson has been named director of casting, digital production platforms, and strategic partnerships at Penguin Random House Audio. At Clarkson Potter, Harry Tunggal has joined Clarkson Potter as editor for Potter Gift. Jina Stanfill has joined Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press as senior publicist.

 

At Abrams, Christine Edwards will join as senior vice president of sales on February 12. She was most recently senior vice president of the adult sales group at HarperCollins.

 

At Scholastic, Tessa Meischeid has joined as publicity manager. Meischeid was previously publicity manager at Penguin Children’s. Kristin Rasmussen has joined as district sales manager. Rasmussen was formerly co-executive director of the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.

 

At HarperCollins, Jocelyn Tiller will be joining as vice president of customer service and sales operations.  Wendy Ceballos has joined HarperCollins in the newly created role of director of retail marketing. Angela Guzman has joined HarperOne as senior editor.

At Open Road Integrated Media, Mary Brigante is joining as corporate controller.

 

Amanda Woods has joined Zondervan as publicity director.

 

At Scholastic, Tessa Meischeid has joined as publicity manager. Meischeid was previously publicity manager at Penguin Children’s. Kristin Rasmussen has joined as district sales manager. Rasmussen was formerly co-executive director of the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.

 

Daniel Loedel, senior editor, is leaving Bloomsbury.

 

Grove Atlantic, Olivia Rutigliano will acquire fiction and nonfiction in the crime and mystery genres for the publisher, while continuing her role as editor.

 

The Authors Guild Foundation has Deborah Wilson join as executive director. She was previously chief development officer at PEN America. Bernard Schwartz joins as executive producer of literary programs. He was previously executive director of 92Y’s Unterberg Poetry Center.

 

Publishers Marketplace project director, for the past 12 years, Robin Dellabough retired on January 31st.   

 

At Hoopla, Stephen Mariasy has joined as an account manager and will be leading the management of active accounts across ebook and audiobook publishers. Olivia Cousino has joined as an account manager and will be leading the management of active accounts across the comics and music formats.

 

Jenna German has joined Candlewick Press as associate designer.

 

Rachael Levay, formerly editor in chief at University Press of Colorado, has joined Princeton University Press as senior editor, sociology and anthropology. Allegra Martschenko, formerly editor at University Press of Colorado, has joined as editorial coordinator.

 

Tyler Bussell has joined ReaderLink Distribution Services as account coordinator.  Patricia Scurto has joined as senior national account manager, Saniya Khatoon has joined as fulfillment planner I. and Molly Condon has joined as senior accountant of shared services

 

In Agency News…

At Gardner Literary, Sherri Wilson Johnson has been promoted to associate literary agent.

 

Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency has been sold to RCW and will have a new children’s division. Sheldon will serve as consulting agent and RCW’s  Millie van Grutten has been promoted to agent and will work in the new division.

 

Andrea Brown Literary AgencySally M. Kim joined as an associate agent. She was previously children’s marketing director at Chronicle

PROMOTIONS

At Macmillan, Tim Greco has been named EVP, sales, effective February 5. He will take over from president, sales & marketing Jennifer Gonzalez who left the company on February 2.  Ellie Bate has joined as a library marketing assistant. 

 

Ingram Publisher Services has promoted Meredith Greenhouse to VP and general manager. It was previously held by Sabrina McCarthy. Nick Parker is promoted to VP and Bummi Western is promoted to director, IPS UK.

 

At HarperCollins, Christina Carpino has been promoted to assistant manager, school & library marketing. HarperCollins Children’s has promoted Harlow Steele has been promoted to financial analyst. Sheila Machicado has been promoted to assistant designer, marketing design at HarperCollins Children’s Books. Courtney Stevenson has been promoted to editor at Quill Tree Books.

 

At Penguin Random House, Kate Trine has been promoted to associate events manager at Penguin Random House Group. At Ballantine Bantam Dell, Melissa Folds has been promoted to senior publicist. Katie Horn has been promoted to associate publicist. Allison Schuster is promoted to deputy director. Taylor Noel and Kathleen Quinlan are promoted to associate director. Erin Kane is promoted to senior publishing manager. Random House and Dial Press saw the promotions of Erin Richards to senior publicist and Madison Dettlinger to marketing manager. Caitlin Meuser has been promoted to analyst, consumer insights. Corina Diez is promoted to marketing manager at Dial and the Ballantine Group. At Riverhead, Ariel So is promoted to publishing associate.  At Penguin Random House Audio, Taraneh Djangi has been promoted to director, strategic marketing. Brittanie Black is promoted to senior publicist. Kate Smith is promoted to publicist, Listening LibraryLauren Klein has been promoted to producer at Penguin Random House Audio. Katie Jones has been named pre-production assistant at Penguin Random House Audio. Harmony Rodale has promoted Odette Fleming to assistant marketing director and Jonathan Sung to marketing manager. Viking Penguin, has promoted Rachel Wainz to senior manager, marketing and Chantal Canales is promoted to marketing associate. Knopf has promoted Todd Portnowitz to editor and Brian Etling has been promoted to assistant editor. At Random House Children’s, Sonali Fry has been promoted to VP,  publisher, Crown Children’s and executive director, Little Tiger. Kelly Delaney has been promoted to senior editor, Crown Children’s. Amy Bowman has been promoted to VP, executive director of production. Patty Collins has been promoted to executive director, production. Mary Ellen Owens has been promoted to assistant director, production. Jennifer Moreno has been promoted to associate director, production. Claribel Vasquez and Melissa Fariello are promoted to manager, production. CJ Han has been promoted to associate, production. Heidi Kilgras has been promoted to executive editorial director and Jasmine Hodge has been promoted to associate editor. Frank Berrios has been promoted to executive editor for Random House Brands. Whitney Leopard has been promoted to executive editor at Random House Graphic. Shane Eichacker has been promoted to assistant art director. John Wyffels has been promoted to senior digital artist.  At Pantheon, Zach Phillips has been promoted to editor. At Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press, Chloe Rawlins has been promoted to executive art director, Lizzie Allen has been promoted to associate art director, Isabelle Gioffredi has been promoted to senior designer, Claudia Sanchez has been promoted to design and production associate, Chloe Aryeh has been promoted to assistant marketing director. Jana Branson has been promoted to director of publicity at Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press Felix Cruz has been promoted to publicist. Lauren Chung has been promoted to associate publicist.

 

Julia Prosser has been promoted to associate publisher and VP of publicity and marketing at Simon & Schuster.

 

Abrams, Gabby Fisher has been promoted to director of publicity. Tayla Monturio has joined as associate publicist, children’s books. Joseph Montagne has been promoted to VP and associate publisher at Abrams ComicArts.

 

At Crooked Lane/Alcove Press, Melissa Rechter has been promoted to editor and acquisitions manager. Dulce Botello has been promoted to marketing coordinator. 

 

At Open Road Integrated Media, Laura Vorhees has been promoted to VP, managing editor.

 

At Macmillan Publishers, Pan Macmillan Lucy Hale has been promoted to managing director, reporting to CEO Joanna Prior. Francesca Pathak is promoted to the newly-created role of publisher, Pan Fiction. Gillian Green is promoted to publisher of Tor UK, alongside Bella Pagan. Alex Saunders is promoted to editorial director. Kinza Azira is promoted to commissioning editor. Maddie Thornham is promoted to assistant editor.

 

Kensington Publishing Corp. has promoted Elizabeth May to editor.

 

At Holiday House, Alexandra Aceves is being promoted to editor and coordinator of Spanish-language publishing. Della Farrell has been promoted to editor at Holiday House. 

 

At the University of Georgia Press, Nathaniel Holly has been promoted to editor-in-chief.

 

At Hoopla, Trenton Zeisler and Abbey Rose have been promoted to senior account managers at Hoopla Digital, and will manage key publishing and entertainment partnerships.

 

Baker Books Publishing, Brian Vos has been promoted to editorial director. 

 

At ReaderLink Distribution Services, Julie Chapa has been promoted to project editor for licensed publishing.

DULY NOTED

  1. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of House Made of Dawn died January 24th at 89.

 

EVENTS

January 24- February 6

Cairo International Book Fair

Cairo, Egypt 

February 1-5

Jaipur Literature Festival

Jaipur, India

February 5-8

Educational Book & Media Association (EBMA) 50th Anniversary Conference

Colorado Springs, CO

February 15-18

Savannah Book Festival 

Savannah, GA

Feb 29- Mar 3

Emerald City ComicCon 

Seattle, WA

Mar 9

Pasadena Festival of Women Authors 

Pasadena, CA

Mar 14-16

New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University

New Orleans, LA

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 01/29-02/02

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

Are Authors Really Benefiting From Spotify? 

 

How Hunting Helped Hemingway’s Writing

 

UC Berkeley Students Create Children’s Books to Fight Book Bans 

 

What is Romantasy Fiction?

 

Students Have Not Regained Pre-Pandemic Reading Levels, Why? 

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 01/22-01/26

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

How Many Books Will You Read in Your Lifetime? 

 

How Are Ai Generated Books Changing The Publishing Landscape?

 

Why Money Makes Us Squirm and How Novelist Kiley Reid Translates That Into Her Writing

 

Celebrate Wilkie Collins 200th Birthday By Discovering His Works

 

From Mind to Manuscript to Movie- Author Megan Hunter Walks Through Her Experience 

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 01/15-01/19

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

Scholar Discovers More Works By Louisa May Alcott 

 

LA Public Library Joins the Book Publishing World 

 

BookTok is Everywhere but is That a Bad Thing? 

 

Why Writing From Your Heart is Overrated According to R.L. Stine

 

Texas’ Fifth Circuit Court Finds Book Banning Law Unconstitutional 

People Round Up, Mid January, 2024

PEOPLE

Liz Perl, EVP and chief marketing officer at Simon & Schuster, will retire on February 2. She first joined S&S in 2008 after three years as publisher of Rodale Books.

Firebrand Group announced that Tom Shawver has been named chief technology officer of Firebrand Technologies and NetGalley, starting January 16. Previously, Shawver served as CTO of 360 Media Direct

Karen K. Miller has been named CEO of Hidden Pigeon Company, which was launched last year to expand author and illustrator Mo Willems’s library of kids’ and family IP. Miller was previously at Cyber Group Studios and Disney, succeeds Kathy Franklin.

 

Kaitilin Harri has been named senior director of publishing at William Morrow. She was previously the senior director or marketing at Morrow.

 

Gotham Ghostwriters has announced that Nathan Robertson will be managing director, bookwriting. Prior to joining in 2019, he previously worked at Crown Publishing Group as senior editor.

 

Emma Peters has joined Countryman Press, an imprint of W.W. Norton as assistant editor. She was formerly the managing editor at PowerHouse Books.

 

Jim Dassise, the western region business manager for Arcadia Publishing has left.

 

At Penguin Random House, Chloe Gandy has joined Penguin Canada as editorial assistant, Natasha Tsakiris has joined as senior publicist, and Ayomikum Taiwo has joined as human resources coordinator. Cindy Yen has joined as as online and digital sales coordinator. Doubleday Canada has Diyasha Sen joining as editorial assistant. Kimberly Lew has joined Crown and Crown Currency as associate marketing director.

 

At Candlewick Press, Nicole Cotton is joining as a production assistant.

Little Bee Books and Yellow Jacket’s associate editor, Jaime Gelman will now acquire trade books for both imprints. She previously acquired licensed content for BuzzPop.

 

In Agency News…

Anna Llewellyn has joined as project coordinator at Brockaman, Inc.  

 

Molly Gendell has joined Maria B. Campbell Associates as a scout. She was previously an associate editor at Mariner Books.

 

KO Media Management has promoted Kate Rogers to associate agent and will continue in her role as licensing coordinator.

 

New Leaf Literary & Media has promoted Katherine Curtis to film and TV associate, and Eilenn Lalley has been promoted to marketing associate.

 

At The CAT Agency, Aliza R. Hoover and Christie Megill have been promoted to agent.

PROMOTIONS

At Penguin Random House Children’s, Annie Kelley has been promoted to executive editor. Rebecca Vitkus has been promoted to senior managing editor. Emily Hoffman has been promoted to associate managing editor. Stephanie Bay has been promoted to senior copy editor.  Alyssa Prado has been promoted to associate brand manager. At Penguin Random House Canada, Supipi Weerasooriya has been promoted to group assistant for marketing and publicity. Ellen Zhang has been promoted to sales representative for online and digital sales, and Ankanee Lagunarajan has been promoted to audiobooks coordinator. Julia Rickard is being promoted to senior publicist at Viking/Penguin. At Berkley Books, Amanda Bergeron has been promoted to VP and editorial director and will be overseeing the imprint’s contemporary historical fiction lists. Jen Monroe has been promoted to executive editor. Liz Sellers has been promoted to associate editor at Berkley. Candice Coote has been promoted to assistant editor.  Kiera Bertrand has been promoted to publishing associate. At One World and Roc Lit 101, Tiffany Ren has been promoted to associate marketing manager.

 

At Hachette Book Group, Suet Chong has been promoted to creative director of Artisan and Workman.

 

At HarperCollins Publishers, Andrew DiCecco has been promoted to director or production. Trish McGinley has been promoted to director of children’s production. Dion Fisco has been promoted to director of reprint production. Nicole Moulaison and Susan Kosko have been promoted to senior director of production. John Herring has been promoted to VP of production operations. Amy Baker has been promoted to VP, associate publisher, and editorial director for Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks. Drew Henry has been promoted to assistant editor at Dey Street Books.

 

Gillian Barth has been promoted to associate production editor at Amplify Publishing Group.

 

Little Bee Books has promoted Maggie Salko to marketing and publicity associate

 

Juliana Lauletta has been promoted to VP of operations at Astra Publishing House. Rachel Small has been promoted to director of publicity.

 

DULY NOTED

Publishers Lunch and the American Booksellers Association will host a virtual Buzz Books Editors and Authors Panel at 7 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, January 24. Editor Leigh Haber once again serves as host/emcee.  Registration is free, and the first 25 booksellers to register will receive galleys of the featured books.

 

Simon & Schuster Children’s UK is launching two new imprints in 2024, Gallery Kids and Gallery YA. Ali Dougal, publishing director, will head the imprints with editorial director, Yasmin Morrissey. Emily Kelly has joined Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing as managing editorial assistant. She was formerly assistant editor at Macmillan Learning.

 

Row House Publishing has announced its romance imprint, Generous Press which will focus on releasing BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disability focused content. Publisher Eliana Ellis and deputy publisher Amber Flame have announced the press’ first title will be released in May.  

 

Mystery Writers of America have announced its special awards, with Katherine Hall Page and R.L. Stein as the grand masters and Michaela Hamilton of Kensington Publishing receiving the Ellery Queen Award. They will be honored at the annual Edgar Awards ceremony on May 1st in New York City.

 

Former executive editor of The New York Times and Pulitzer Prize winner, Joseph Lelyveld died at 86 on January 5th following complications from Parkinson’s disease. He started with The Times in 1962 as a copy boy and worked his way up to executive editor, a position he held from 1994 to 2001. 

 

Joan Acocella, dance critic and staff writer for The New Yorker from 1995- 2019 died January 7th at 78.

 

EVENTS

January 13-21

Çukurova Book Fair

Adana, Turkey

January 19

BISG (live/virtual): Doing Rights, Right Making the Case for Change 

New York, NY 

January 19-21

Albuquerque Comic Con

Albuquerque, NM

January 22

Gathering of The Ghosts

New York, NY

January 26-27

Sunshine State Book Festival

Gainesville, FL

January 18-31

Kolkata Book Fair

Kolkata, India

January 24- February 6

Cairo International Book Fair

Cairo, Egypt 

January 25-28

Angoulême International Comics Festival

Angoulême, France

February 1-5

Jaipur Literature Festival

Jaipur, India

February 5-8

Educational Book & Media Association (EBMA) 50th Anniversary Conference

Colorado Springs, CO

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 01/08-01/12

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

Open Ai Facing More Lawsuits 

 

Why Should We Read the Classics? 

 

Goodreads Shares Most Popular Books Over the Last Decade

 

How Planning Your Next Trip Will Help Your Writing  

 

Reading Challenges- Good or Bad? 

People Round Up, Early January, 2024

PEOPLE

Circana has announced organizational changes and, as a result, president U.S. Books,  Jonathan Stolper, will depart Circana and BookScan after 13 years heading the business.  He may be reached at jsto1984@gmail.com   Starting February 1st, longtime Client Development Executive Director David Walter will lead the US Books business under Circana’s Entertainment Sector.

 

Janice Audet, formerly executive editor at Basic Books of Hachette Book Group, has joined The MIT Press as editorial director.

 

At Berret-Koehler Publishers, Praveen Madan joins as CEO and publisher. He was previously CEO at Kepler’s BooksHe succeeds David Marshall, who is retiring after 17 years at the company. 

 

Jenny Davis has been named creative director, leading the newly created illustrated design team, at the Random House Publishing Group. She will report to SVP, creative director Paolo PepeSonia Persad is named associate art director for the newly created illustrative design team, WaterBrook & Multnomah Children’s Publishing Program and Bones Leopard is senior designer for Inklore

 

At HarperCollins, Gabriella Mongelli, formerly editor at Putnam, has joined Park Row Books as senior editor.

 

At Blackstone Publishing, Mike Heuer has joined as national sales manager.

At Macmillan Publishers, Susannah Noel has joined as production editor for managing editorial. Bhaskaran Mani has joined as lead data engineer. Michael Benton has joined as business systems analyst for platform development. Cassidy Leyendecker has joined Macmillan Publishers as author development and backlist manager.

 

Allison Serrell, formerly senior editor at Wonderwell Press has joined PA Press as senior editor.

 

Julie Jayne, associate publisher, has left Regnery Publishing.

 

Matthew Hafner has joined ReaderLink Distribution Services as district operations auditor.  Ashley Herrell has joined as space and merchandise planner. Amaya Sood has joined as omni channel sales support.

 

At Dreamscape Media, Xavier Dusseau has joined as a metadata specialist for video operations.

 

Jayashree’ Anderson, formerly gift & toy buyer at Red Balloon Bookshop, has joined Consortium as sales & support representative.

 

At Highlights, Chris Bauerle has joined as VP and general manager of books and consumer products 

In Agency News…

Elizabeth Pratt, formerly assistant at Park & Fine, has joined Trellis Literary Management as editorial associate. Tori Clayton, formerly subsidiary rights agent at the Jane Rotrosen Agency, has joined Trellis Literary Management as subsidiary rights and operations associate.

 

At Franklin & Siegal Associates, Brianna Zimmerman has joined as a literary scout. Dorian Randall has been promoted to senior literary scout.

PROMOTIONS

At Penguin Random House, Isabel DaSilva has been promoted to senior marketing manager at Dutton. Grace Layer has been promoted to associate editor at Dutton. Rachel Ake has been promoted to associate art director at Modern Library. Regina Flath has been promoted to senior art director at Del Rey. Joe Perez has been promoted to VP and executive art director at Harmony and Rodale. Greg Mollica has been promoted to VP and executive art director at Random House and One World. Donna Cheng has been promoted to art director at Dial and Hogarth.  

 

At Kokila, Namrata Tripathi has been promoted to president and publisher,  effective immediately.  Previously, Tripathi was Kokila’s SVP and publisher.   Joanna Cárdenas has been promoted to associate publisher. 

 

At Crown Publishing Group, Michelle Giuseffi has been promoted to associate director. Anahita Padmanabhan has been promoted to social media marketing manager. At Putnam Books, Brennin Cummings has been promoted to assistant director of marketing and Tarini Sipahimalani and Aranya Jain have been promoted to assistant editor 

 

At Macmillan Publishers, Offauna Goodman has been promoted to production manager

 

At Harlequin, Allison Lyons has been promoted to senior editor of Harlequin Romantic Suspense. Stephanie Doig has been promoted to senior editor at Carina Press

 

At Candlewick Press, Sofi Elbadawi has been promoted to marketing coordinator.

 

At Lee & Low Books, Elise McMullen-Ciotti has been promoted to senior editor at Lee & Low and Stephanie Frescas Macías has been promoted to assistant editor. Jennifer Khawam has been promoted to marketing coordinator and Shaughnessy Miller has been promoted to assistant marketing manager at Lee & Low.

 

At the University of North Carolina Press, Thomas Bedenbaugh and Carol Seigler are being promoted to assistant editor. 

 

Hannah Boardman has been promoted to associate publicist at TvS Media Group.

 

At Dreamscape Media, Erick Black has been promoted to director of production. Ben Coy has been promoted to production manager. Raj Mavi has been promoted to senior staff accountant. Emily Solomon has been promoted to editorial associate. Lauren Smetzer has been promoted to marketing specialist. 

 

DULY NOTED

Matthew Flamm, reporter and poet, died January 2 at age 70 after a battle with brain cancer. His work included writing for Crain’s New York Business, the New York Post, the New York Observer and the New Yorker.

 

EVENTS

January 11-14

Key West Literary Seminar

Key West, FL

January 12-14

Portland Fan Expo

Portland, OR

January 13-21

Çukurova Book Fair

Adana, Turkey

New York, NY 

[A note on the site states:  Digital Book World 2024, originally scheduled for January 15-17 in New York City, has been postponed indefinitely.]

January 19

BISG (live/virtual): Doing Rights, Right Making the Case for Change 

New York, NY 

January 19-21

Albuquerque Comic Con

Albuquerque, NM

January 22

Gathering of The Ghosts

New York, NY

January 26-27

Sunshine State Book Festival

Gainesville, FL

January 18-31

Kolkata Book Fair

Kolkata, India

January 24- February 6

Cairo International Book Fair

Cairo, Egypt 

January 25-28

Angoulême International Comics Festival

Angoulême, France

February 1-5

Jaipur Literature Festival

Jaipur, India

February 5-8

Educational Book & Media Association (EBMA) 50th Anniversary Conference

Colorado Springs, CO