Rich Freese has been named president and ceo of Recorded Books. Most recently he was president of the National Book Network, and in a statement Haights Cross president and ceo Ron Schlosser praised him as “a strong leader who will ensure Recorded Books is focused on achieving its aggressive business goals as well as tracking market trends and utilizing customer feedback about their needs and our strategy and approaches. I am delighted to welcome Rich to Recorded Books and Haights Cross Communications.”
Release
Chris Schluep has been named senior editor, Amazon.com Books, effective May 23. Previously he was a senior editor with Ballantine/Del Rey.
Jennifer Hunt is joining Penguin Children’s Dial Books as vp of acquisition and development and editor-at-large, starting next week, reporting to Lauri Hornik. She will acquire and develop literary and high-quality commercial fiction, from picture books to YA, and will also “liaise with the film/tv/game community on the west coast.” Hunt was most recently editorial director at Little, Brown Children’s.
Blackwell’s ceo Andrew Hutchings has been let go after 23 years with the company. He will temporarily stay on to oversee the restructuring of the library supply division, which is set to lead to further job losses in the city as soon as next month.
Oxford Mail
Bill O’Brien has been promoted to director, business development at Copyright Clearance Center.
Bonnier has bought WSOY from Finnish media group Sanoma Oyj, which will in turn buy educational publishers Tammi Learning and Swedish Bonnier Utbildning from Bonnier. The WSOY sale is expected to close later this year.
Reuters
Liz Gately Book Scouting has been appointed the US scout for children’s book publisher Oetinger in Germany.
Ernesto Sabato, the widely honored Argentinian novelist who led an investigation into crimes committed by the military’s dictatorship, died over the weekend. He was 99.
AP obit
Science fiction & fantasy author and critic Joanna Russ, 74, died Friday morning in Tucson. She had suffered from a series of strokes earlier in the week and was admitted to hospice care. She is best known for books of criticism such as The Female Man (1975) and How to Suppress Women’s Writing (1984) as well as the Nebula Award-nominated novel And Chaos Died (1970).
LocusMag obit