As part of the reorganization, Brent Lewis, now executive vp digital and retail marketing, will oversee a combined digital and physical marketing division. Vp sales Alex Osuszek will be in charge of all physical and digital commerce pieces. Lewis and Osuszek, in addition to executive vp, director of direct-to-customer division Christina Clifford and vp public relations Kathryn Orr, will all report to Swinwood, effective immediately. The same consolidation of marketing departments has happened to overseas divisions, with Steve Miles named coo.

In addition, Harlequin announced a number of key editorial promotions. Amy Jones was named director of Harlequin Teen, with Natashya Wilson moving up to executive editor; Farah Mullick was promoted to director of Harlequin's digital-first division, encompassing Carina Press, while Deb Brody moves up to director of Harlequin's non-fiction imprint.

In other personnel news, Kelly Barrales-Saylor will join Albert Whitman & Company as editorial director on May 21. She was most recently senior projects editor and art services supervisor at Sourcebooks.

At Sourcebooks, Aubrey Poole has been promoted to associate editor, acquiring for the Jabberwocky and Fire imprints.

Jonathan Haupt has been named director of USC Press effective July 1, after serving in that capacity in an interim role for the past year. Haupt succeeds Curtis Clark, who served as the director beginning in 2002 and left in 2011 to become director of the University of Alabama Press.

The new Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction announced the finalists for the two awards:

Nonfiction
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, by Robert K. Massie
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood, by James Gleick
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, by Manning Marable

Fiction
The Forgotten Waltz, by Anne Enright
Lost Memory of Skin, by Russell Banks
Swamplandia!, by Karen Russell

The inaugural winners will be named at ALA in Anaheim on June 24. Karen Russell just won the Young Lions' Award and was a Pulitzer finalist (and tied for 11th on the Publishers Lunch Best of the Best of 2012 Fiction list).

Marable won the Pulitzer for history, was nominated for a National Book Award and a NBCC, and tied for fifth on the Publishers Lunch Best of the Best of 2012 Nonfiction list. Massie was tied for seventh on the PL compilation list, and an Indie Choice nominee, and Gleick was an NBCC nominee. Enright is also in contention for the Orange Prize, and Banks was a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist.

Sterling vp marketing and publicity Leigh Ann Ambrosi will join Crown Archetype in the newly created position of vp, Brand Publishing Project Director on June 4, reporting to Tina Constable. In her position, Ambrosi will serve as project director for select publications by key health, fitness, and self-help authors within the Crown Archetype and Harmony Books imprints, and she will also serve as the primary liaison with the author and their representatives and will play a key role in crafting and executing long-term strategy, from pre-publication set-up through book launch and beyond.

In a memo to staff Constable said that Ambrosi's addition to Crown Archetype "will enhance our ability to provide robust, long-term support for our brand authors and extend the lives of their publications. I am confident that Leigh Ann's wide-ranging experience, proven project management skills, and natural sense of leadership will make a valuable contribution to Archetype’s publishing program." Ambrosi will also work with newly appointed director of Brand Strategy for Crown Kimberly Snead to create annual brand development plans for major authors.

Publishing Trends reports that Najafi Companies partner Daniel Shum has taken over as ceo of their Direct Brands unit (which units their book club operations), taking over from Debi Fine, who has left the company.

Philipp Keel has been named publisher of Diogenes Verlag, succeeding his father, longtime publisher Daniel Keel, who died in 2011. Together with executive directors Winfried Stephan, Stefan Fritsch, Ruth Geiger, Daniel Kampa and Katharina Erne, and ceo Rudolf C. Bettschart, Keel will assume the operative leadership of the corporation, while Jakob Keel remains president of the board of directors.

Longstanding member of the Google Books team Roland Lange has shifted positions with the company. He is now major accounts lead at YouTube.

At Highlights for Children/Boyds Mills Press, Rebecca Davis has been named senior editor, Wordsong and Boyds Mills, having previously freelanced for the imprints. Kerry McManus joins as marketing and permissions manager; previously she was assistant director of special projects at Fairfield University. In addition, Sarah Lozo has been named assistant coordinating editor. Previously she was an associate editor at General Code.

Carlos Fuentes, the prolific author and essayist who was a key figure of the Latin American novel-writing boom and was an outspoken figure in his native Mexico, died Tuesday of respiratory failure in a Mexico City hospital at the age of 83. Among his best known works were THE DEATH OF ARTEMIO CRUZ (1962) TERRA NOSTRA (1975) and OLD GRINGO (1985); he was also ambassador to London and France at varying points in his life. In an interview with El Pais published Tuesday Fuentes said he had recently completed a new book, FEDERICO ON THE BALCONY, and was set to begin a new work the following week. Dalkey Archive Press will publish his novel VLAD in the US in July.

AP Obit

Children's author  Jean Craighead George, 92, died "peacefully and painlessly", according to her agent Ginger Knowlton at Curtis Brown (she took over from her Perry Knowlton, who was George's agent for 25 years.) Of the more than 100 novels George published, she was best known for the Newbery Award winning novel JULIE OF THE WOLVES (1972) as well as MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN (1958) and later sequels published in the 1990s. "Jean herself was a force of nature; with her booming voice and her strong ideas about life and politics; a much-loved writer whose work was among the most influential in the last century; a lifelong and powerful presence in the publishing industry whose impact cannot be measured solely by the millions of books she sold all over the world," Knowlton said in a statement. "The legacy she leaves behind for those of us at Curtis Brown who act so proudly on her behalf is that of a passionate and fearless naturalist, teacher, and artist. We are so grateful for the many years of good memories, and for all her beloved books that will live on forever."

Ingram's Core Source program for the distribution, sales and management of ebooks is expanding among Christian publishers, with the company announcing David C Cook, R.H Boyd Publishing, Our Sunday Visitor, Abingdon Press, and Worthy Publishing as new clients.

While McGraw-Hill is in "the final stages" of their search for a new head for their education division prior to its spinoff at the end of the year as a separate company, the company has announced adjustments in the unit's executive ranks.

Patrick Milano, who has been "Director of the Program Management Office of the Corporation's Growth and Value Plan" takes the more normal job of cfo and chief administrative officer of McGraw-Hill Education. He will report to overall McGraw-Hill cfo Jack Callahan until the new Education ceo is named. The parent company's associate general counsel David Stafford will become general counsel of McGraw-Hill Education and "will also play a key role building a public company legal team and preparing for the spin-off." A number of other executives stay in their current roles but with a pathway that will continue to tie them to the education line as it is separated.

All of the business unit presidents within McGraw-Hill Education will report to company chairman, president and ceo Harold McGraw III until the new division ceo is named.
Release

The McEvoy Group has hired Bill Miller as president of Galison Publishing, which comprises Galison, Mudpuppy, Galison Holiday and Galison Private Label. Most recently a consultant, prior to that he was vp of merchandising, gift, product development and calendars at Barnes & Noble.

Debra Linn has been named online marketing manager at Algonquin Books. Previously she was the events and marketing director at Books & Books in Miami, Fla.

The UK's Bookseller Industry Awards were handed out Monday night in London. Among the honorees:
Publisher: Harper UK
Independent Publisher: Constable and Robinson
Children's Publisher: Usborne
Imprint and Editor: Harvill Secker; Liz Foley
Agent: Jonny Geller, Curtis Brown UK
Rights Professional: Andy Hine, Little Brown UK
National Bookseller: Foyles
Children's Bookseller: Foyles
Full list

Pulitzer biographer James McGrath Morris was elected as president of Biographers International Organization; Brian Jay Jones, who is completing a biography of Jim Henson, was chosen as vice president.

Karen Russell has won the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award for her novel SWAMPLANDIA!, receiving a $10,000 prize.

Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld has won the 2012 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for his novel BLOOMS OF DARKNESS.

The Lambda Literary Foundation's 2012 Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize has recognizes Stacey D'Erasmo (A Seahorse Year) and Brian Leung (Take Me Home).

INscribe Digital has announced distribution deals with a number of publishers, including Glenn Beck's company Mercury Ink, along with M-Y Books, the exclusive publisher for the Barbara Cartland estate. The company says they have also "formed pacts" with Folio Literary Management and the Laura Dail Literary Agency, expanding their list of agency relationships. (Movable Type is among those to discuss their work with INscribe in the past.) Many agencies have relationships with more than one digital distributor; it was announced in April that Folio is making the Argo Navis service available to their authors, too, and last year Folio was experimenting with distributor MintRight on digital reissues.

Newsday reporter and ringleader of the 1969 parody NAKED CAME THE STRANGER Mike McGrady, 78, died Sunday in Shelton, WA.

At Overlook Press, Jill Lichtenstadter has been appointed sales manager. She was previously director of national accounts at Hachette Book Group. In addition, Melody Conroy has been named associate editor, having previously worked at Norton, and Theresa Collier and Michael Goldsmith have been promoted to associate publicists.

Hannah Selleck has been named digital publishing coordinator at MacGregor Literary. She is the founder and proprietor of Doublecheck Editing.

Hachette Book Group has released some details on the next book by author of The Shack William Paul Young, which they first announced in August 2011 after Young settled his lawsuit with Windblown Media founders Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings. Young's book is called CROSS ROADS, "the story of a driven man who falls into a coma and experiences relational entanglements that allow him to revisit choices he made during his life," and is set for publication November 13 through HBG's Faith Words imprint. Publisher Rolf Zettersen says in the release, "In the tradition of The Shack, Paul Young has written a wonderfully creative and provocative story that will certainly stir imaginations and hearts. It entrenches Paul's reputation as a major novelist of our time." FaithWords will also publish a devotional this fall, The Shack: Reflections for Every Day of the Year.

Gilbert will report to vp, publishing director of the Random House/Golden Books Young Readers Group, Mallory Loehr. She will acquire and publish new books in a variety of formats and categories including board books, picture books, narrative nonfiction, novels and ebooks, and will also oversee the backlist publishing program. Gilbert has been at Sterling for 12 years.

Her first list for Doubleday is planned for 2014. Gilbert says in the announcement, "I envision future Doubleday lists to be rich with titles that have a classic and enduring feel—books that are tasteful, uncomplicated and warm."

In other personnel news, Natalie White is joining AuthorBuzz.com as director of client services /advertising director and Christine Cabello is working for the company as strategic marketing advisor. White was formerly director of advertising at Simon & Schuster, and Cabello was previously director of marketing at the Random House Publishing Group.

People from across the book publishing world colluded collaborated to raise a new record of over $1 million dollars to support the good works of the UJA-Federation of New York's on Thursday evening and to honor Sandi Mendelson (with their service award) and Random House ceo Markus Dohle. Emcee (and Crown author) Mindy Kaling joked that she "had the same reaction as everyone" when she was invited: "Markus Dohle, the German guy? The UJA is very progressive." Dohle was gently but persistently teased for his often-raised "enormous thumbs" and praised for the enthusiasm he brought to reorganizing the company in difficult times and opening up Random House's corporate culture.

As expected, Betsy Burton of The King's English Bookshop; Valerie Koehler of Blue Willow Bookshop; and Jonathon Welch of Talking Leaves…Books have all been elected to three-year terms on the ABA Board. Welch is a brand-new board member; Burton is serving her second term, and Koehler was appointed to the board last spring to fill a vacancy.

Patrick Barry and Brian Moore have been promoted to senior designers at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

At Blake Friedmann, finance manager since 2004 Adrian Clarke now joins the board as finance director, and Ruth Richardson has been promoted to contracts manager.

Biographer C. David Heymann, 67, died after collapsing in his apartment building, believed to have suffered from cardiopulmonary failure. His first celebrity biography, Poor Little Rich Girl: The Life and Legend of Barbara Hutton (1983), was recalled and destroyed after factual errors came to light, later republished by Lyle Stuart. His subsequent bestsellers included A Woman Named Jackie and Liz: An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor.

On the May 4 item about the launch of BroadLit and their new online romance hub and publishing lines, the company writes to clarify that Phyllis Grann had no role in developing the new initiative: she was just providing an endorsement quote that BroadLit was billing prominently in their press release. (A later version of the release made it a little clearer that Grann was speaking as someone "who has worked closely over many years with BroadLit's chief publishing officer Nancy Cushing-Jones.)

In corporate acquisitions, Boston-based Shambhala Publications announced it has acquired Ithaca-based Snow Lion, publisher of Tibetan Buddhist books. Founded in 1980, Snow Lion's list adds over three hundred titles to Shambhala catalog, including six by the Dalai Lama. National Book Network will continue to sell Snow Lion's titles to the trade "for the time being" but "by the fall" Shambhala's distributor Random House will take over.

In the event that Amazon's forthcoming exclusive license of the seven Harry Potter ebooks for their Kindle Owner's Lending Library created any questions about the existing availability of those ebooks for traditional lending through libraries, Overdrive spokesperson Mike Lovett has the answer: "We view this news as good news, as another author/publisher sees lending ebooks as a way to maximize exposure and connect with readers. OverDrive has an exclusive distribution agreement with Pottermore to provide Harry Potter ebooks and audiobooks into libraries and schools worldwide, and this is not affected by the Amazon news."

Washington, DC's Politics & Prose bookstore has launched a literary travel tour program, working with DC-based Academic Travel Abroad (which works with the Smithsonian, National Geographic, and various alumni associations, among others). "Part tour, part roving literary symposium, each trip will be led by an expert in the field," including store head buyer Mark LaFramboise on a literary tour of France, and will include reading lists and "book discussions along the way." See Politicsandprosetravel.com/ for details.

At Harper, Julie Will has been named executive editor, effective May 14 and reporting to Karen Rinaldi, focusing on acquiring titles in the health and wellness area. She was most recently executive talent producer for healthy living at OpenSky and before then, at Rodale.

Mary Kole has joined Movable Type Management as senior literary manager in charge of young adult, middle grade, and picture book properties. She was an agent the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Parul Sehgal will join the New York Times Book Review as a preview editor next month. She is currently books editor for NPR.org, which she joined at the end of 2011.

Commissioning editor at The Westbourne Press Rukhsana Yasmin was named the winner of the UK's Kim Scott Walwyn Prize, the Bookseller reports. The award honors professional achievement and promise for woman in the first seven years of her publishing career.

Fifty Shades... author EL James indicates to USA Today she has two other novels--one erotic, and the other a young adult paranormal--"stashed away" already. She says, "I've got several more good ideas but how do you follow this? I've set the bar quite high in terms of storytelling."

Spanish business book publisher LID has named Karl Weber as chairperson of the company editorial board, where he will help advise on titles for LID’s publication plans, help with the strategy and development of the company in the US, and work with other board members to achieve the successful progress of the company within the business sector. Weber is a writer, editor, and book developer specializing in general-interest non-fiction. In addition, Raquel Avila joins as general manager, additionally responsible for LID's Speakers Bureau. Previously she was a senior sales manager at Macmillan.

Best known for writing the inaugural Oprah's Book Club selection The Deep End of the Ocean, Mitchard says in the announcement: "I'd wanted to be an editor for years, but didn’t see myself in a huge box in Manhattan. F+W made me an offer I couldn't refuse: the chance to work with new authors and established authors on something so important. It's exactly where I want to be at this point in my career. Something in me said – you’re home."

Sourcebooks continues to expand their education unit EDU. Lyron Bennett has rejoined the company as business development manager – education. Most recently he was a national accounts manager at sports-licensed consumer product manufacturer Tribeca, prior to which he was an editor at Sourcebooks and was involved in launching the Jabberwocky imprint. Bennett is the son of ceo and founder Dominique Raccah.

Also joining Sourcebooks EDU is Andrea Purcell, as education marketing manager. She has spent over 10 years as an English teacher, high school, college and career counselor, and an independent education consultant, and served as a member of the Sourcebooks Education Advisory Network.

Christelle Chamouton joins Bloomsbury UK as head of contracts, starting June 20, responsible for all Group contracts generated from the UK divisions. She was contracts manager at Scholastic Children's UK.

Melville House announced a number of recent new hires. Sal Robinson has joined as an editor from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where she was most recently an associate editor. Founder and publisher of Dark Sky Press Kevin Murphy has been named digital marketing manager, as well as managing editor of the MobyLives blog. In addition, Nick Davies and Ariel Bogle have joined as publicists. Davis was most recently a publicist at Basic Books, while Bogle previously worked at HarperCollins Australia.

The LAT is taking its books editor position, being vacated by Jon Thurber due to his impending retirement after 40 years with the paper, in a different direction, according to an internal memo obtained by LA Observed. Redefining the position as "Books & Culture editor", qualifications for the new hire emphasizes "knowledge of pop culture" and adds a focus on "California and the West" to the editor's job. The editor will "also be asked to expand the paper's online reach and mobile coverage."

Nearly 70 publishing people so far have enrolled as "host" donors for a book industry fundraiser for President Obama's re-election campaign, organized by Roger Cooper, Tom Dunne, Barbara Lowenstein and Bob Miller, with Domenica Alioto overseeing outreach to people in the business under 30.

The June 18 event has already switched to a larger space based on the early enrollment, and Rosanne Cash has agreed to perform, with a "VIP guest speaker" promised as well. The organizers are continuing to enroll "host"-level donors until the end of this week. Contact one of the organizers for more information; there is general donation and information page as well. To see some of the other enrolled hosts, you can view the preliminary invitation. (And yes, if there is a comparable event among publishing supporters of Mitt Romney, contact us for "equal time.")

Kathy Davis has joined Harlequin as acquisitions editor, supporting the newly acquired Heartsong Presents program.

Peter Collingridge is the latest well-known epublishing recruit for Safari Books Online, where he will serve as vp of product development. He will work out of London initially, but will relocate to the San Francisco Bay area this summer.

Laura Dawson will join Bowker on May 16, doing product management for the DOI, ISNI and ISTC standards. She has been at Firebrand.

At advertising agency MK Creative-Media-Marketing Kaitlin Harri is now account director.

Publishers Group West will begin providing digital distribution services through Constellation for Interlink Publishing and Salon Media Group.

Informed German publishing sources report an announcement is expected shortly that former Random House executive Joerg Pfuhl will join the supervisory board of German entertainment conglomerate Edel. (It's anticipated that the announcement will follow today's annual meeting.) Edel is "one of the top independent music companies in Europe," and since 2007 has been "pursuing a strategy aimed at making book publishing a key mainstay of its business" by building a publishing group that incorporates Pabel-Moewig Verlag and Rockbuch Verlag along with their own Edel Edition and earBooks, which combines picture books and music cds.

Pfuhl served in a number of executive positions at Random House, Inc., most recently as CEO of Random House Germany and a member of the Random House executive board. In announcing his resignation last year, RH ceo Markus Dohle said Pfuhl "wanted to devote more time to his family and to his interests in education, consulting, and philanthropic work and give them the same undivided focus he has given the company." He has been head of the Reading Foundation, which participated in Germany's World Book Night celebration.

The Center for Fiction has selected their second class of fellows, supporting emerging writers in the NYC-area. They are: Leopoldine Core, Rosalie Knecht, Lisa Lee, Daniel Long, Manuel Martinez, Tracy O'Neill, Tim O'Sullivan, Jackie Reitzes, and Seamus Scanlon.

The Children's Book Council announced the winners of the Children's Choice Book Awards. Jeff Kinney was author of the year and Brian Selznick was illustrator of the year.

Tuesday morning, the NYT reported that Maurice Sendak, 83, died earlier in the day due to complications from a recent stroke, according to his longtime editor Michael di Capua. (The AP says he suffered the stroke last Friday night and never regained consciousness.) He is "widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche."

My Brother's Book, a poem written and illustrated by Sendak "and inspired by his love for his late brother, Jack," is currently scheduled for publication by HarperCollins Children's in February 2013.