Kobo has hired Phil Wood for the new position of country manager, UK. Wood was at TomKat Consulting, serving the consumer technology, electronics and IT sectors, prior to which he director of Interead, which attracted attention for its inexpensive COOL-ER ereaders (before going out of business).
Kobo general manager Matt Welch says in the announcement, “Having someone with Wood’s technology, commercial and eReading expertise positions us well for our planned growth in the UK. We have seen tremendous first six months here and with Phil as country manager I am confident we’ll see Kobo continuing to drive forward the ereading revolution.”
The American Library Association is adding its first prizes for adult trade books, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction— to be awarded at their annual conference in June. Former librarian and now Amazon Publishing collaborator Nancy Pearl will be the chair of the selection committee, with winners drawn from last year’s Booklist Editors’ Choice and RUSA Collection Development and Evaluation Section Notable Books lists. President of Carnegie Corporation and past president of the New York Public Library Vartan Gregorian says in the announcement the new prizes “recognize literary excellence, but more, they also celebrate the important role librarians play in opening up the world of imagination, education, and aspiration to new readers and avid book lovers alike.”
Evanston, IL-based Agate Publishing has announced a deal with the Chicago Tribune to produce ebooks based on the newspaper’s content through their recently-launched Agate Digital imprint. They expect to start releasing ebooks from the partnership this spring. Agate president Doug Seibold says they hope “to produce ebooks that can be brought to market very rapidly… We look forward to exploring innovative ways to develop, produce, and market ebooks alongside the Tribune.”
Senior editor of the New York Times Book Review (and husband of novelist Amy Waldman) Alexander Star will join Farrar, Straus and Giroux as a senior editor on April 2. Before moving to the book review, Star was deputy editor of the NYT Magazine. Earlier in his career he was founding editor of the Boston Globe’s Ideas section and editor of Lingua Franca: The Review of Academic Life.
Chris Granville recently joined Basic Books recently as managing editor. He was at Norton for the past ten years, most recently as senior production manager.
Lucinda Durning has joined Scholastic as svp, human resources and employee services, reporting to cfo and coo Maureen O’Connell. Previously she was vp of human resources at Columbia University.
Patricia Stockland joins Lerner Publications as editorial director of their imprint for series nonfiction for children in K-8 on March 19. She was previously editorial director for Red Line Editorial.
Former ceo of the Hearst Book Group and one-time coo of Random House, Inc. William Wright, 62, died at home on February 26.