Coffee House Press founder and publisher Allan Kornblum will retire from the company, with associate publisher Chris Fischbach to succeed him as publisher. Kornblum, who founded the press in 1973, told the Twin Cities Daily Planet he’ll concentrate on more systems cleanup and on fundraising projects, and he has begun to write his own memoir.
Twin Cities Daily Planet
Workman has announced a series of promotions and new hires. Raquel Jaramillo has been promoted to both editorial director and creative director of children’s publishing, reporting to Suzie Bolotin, and she will also serve as acting creative director for the overall Workman imprint. Tae Wong Yi also joins the children’s division as a designer. In the publicity department, Lauren Reddy joins as publicist and Maggie Gleason joins as publicity assistant. Previously Reddy was at Tarcher and Gleason was a recent graduate of Syracuse University.
Penguin UK has combined its publicity and marketing teams into a single communications department, with publicity director Amelia Fairney becoming communications director. Marketing director Jane Rose will leave the company after five years
At The Susan Golomb Literary Agency, Lauren Shekari has been named rights director. Lauren was previously subsidiary rights manager at Bloomsbury.
Karen Grencik and Abigail Samoun have founded Red Fox Literary, a boutique agency representing children’s book authors and illustrators. Grencik will be representing authors writing for picture book, chapter book, middle grade, and young adult audiences, while Samoun, previously an editor with Tricycle Press, Random House, and Simon & Schuster, will initially be focusing on the illustration division. Grencik may be reached at karen@redfoxliterary.com and (805) 459-3327, and Samoun may be contacted at abigail@redfoxliterary.com and (707) 933-9702.
Holger Volland has been named head of the Conferences / Creative Industries division of the Frankfurt Book Fair, and also joins the Fair’s management team. Previously Volland was head of marketing and communications at Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels.
Mary Anne Thompson Associates has been appointed US literary scout for Fortuna Libri in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
John Le Carre has been named as one of this year’s recipients of Germany’s Goethe Medal, which goes to individuals who “have performed outstanding service for the German language and international cultural dialogue”.
Guardian