Curtis Brown UK has acquired the entirety of Conville & Walsh a full year before the agreed deadline of final acquisition (after purchasing a 50 percent share in the agency two years ago). Conville & Walsh will retain its name and identity and continue to operate within Curtis Brown’s Haymarket offices, but its back office functions will be integrated into Curtis Brown. Jonny Geller, joint CEO of Curtis Brown, said in the announcement: “From the first day of working with Clare and Patrick and their fantastic team of agents and assistants, we knew it was going to work. Their flair, sense of fun and deep seriousness for their authors is inspiring and we believe that together we will provide a real choice for authors.”
Chila Woychik has joined WordWise Media Services as associate literary agent. Previously she was founder and owner of Port Yonder Press, and edits the literary journal Eastern Iowa Review.
Chris Chappell has joined Berghahn Books as senior editor for history and film. Previously he was senior editor at Palgrave Macmillan. In addition, Jeremy Wang-Iverson joins the company as sales and marketing manager. Previously he was publicity manager at Oxford University Press.
At McGraw-Hill Education, Cheryl Ringer has been promoted to associate editor, international & professional division.
IPR License has hired Stacey Riley for the new position of transaction manager. She was at Nature Publishing Group.
Awards
The finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award were announced Tuesday morning, with the winner to be named April 7 and honored at a ceremony on May 2. The finalists are:
Jeffery Renard Allen, Song of the Shank (Graywolf)
Jennifer Clement, Prayers for the Stolen (Hogarth)
Atticus Lish, Preparation for the Next Life (Tyrant)
Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven (Knopf)
Jenny Offill, Department of Speculation (Vintage)
The Women’s Prize for Fiction announced its longlist of 20 titles, also including Mandel’s Station Eleven as well as recently published titles by Anne Tyler, Ali Smith, Sandra Newman, and Rachel Cusk. The shortlist will be announced in mid-April with the winner to be named June 3.
Publication Announcement
Eric Carle will publish a new picture book, THE NONSENSE SHOW, coming from Philomel in October 2015. Carle says in the announcement the book “came to me over a long period of time and I had fun working on it. It is a playful word-and-picture game and an upside-down way of looking at life and the world. I like these topsy-turvy points of view. I appreciate the way Surrealist artists like Magritte showed us all in their paintings that you have to keep looking, keeping paying attention. And keep playing.”
Obituary
Romance author Cathie Linz died on March 7 at her home in Naperville, IL. She published 56 books, most recently under the pseudonym Cat Devon. Her agency notes that “she was known and beloved in the romance community for her charming, warmhearted stories that lifted readers with laughter and love.”