Film development and publishing veteran Ruth Pomerance will join Hyperion on January 28 as a senior editor, focusing on the acquisition and development of new stories and author talent that will translate across the Disney/ABC Television Group businesses. Most recently she was executive producer for the adaptation of Judy Blume’s Tiger Eyes and a consultant to entertainment firms. Pomerance has worked for producers including Scott Rudin, Arnold Kopelson, Fred Zollo, and John Davis, for whom she acquired and developed literary properties for film and TV, and has worked at The Rockwell Group, USA Films, Artists Management Group, and the William Morris Agency. She is known for coming across the unpublished manuscript of John Grisham’s The Firm in 1990 and helping him land a publishing deal with Doubleday and a film deal at Paramount.
Brad Parsons will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on January 28 in the new position of director of culinary marketing. He was previously associate director, online marketing at Grand Central (and was formerly books editor at Amazon.) He is also the author of the award-winning book BITTERS: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All.
Kristina Jutzi will join Chronicle Books as digital sales and distribution manager. Previously she supervised ebook operations for Bloomsbury UK.
At HarperCollins, Tina Andreadis has been promoted to svp, publicity. She has been at Harper since 2005.
At becker&mayer!, Kjersti Egerdahl has been promoted to senior editor/editorial manager for adult and children’s books.
Deb Gaffin will serve as a strategic advisor to Open Road Media, extending their marketing and merchandising efforts in the UK and Europe. Previously she has been vp of Marketing for Mindshapes, digital product director for Nosy Crow, and an executive at Scholastic.
Linda Clark Associates is now scouting for Xander in Holland, a new publishing house founded by Sander Knol in 2012.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ceo Linda Zecher describes her journey from geophysicist for Texas Instruments to head of the education-focused publisher for the NYT. “Last year, I helped steer the company through a voluntary bankruptcy, eliminating $3 billion in debt. I have been working to restore the company’s place in Boston’s business and civic community. Executives are now required to live in or around Boston, and we are supporting more local institutions and nonprofits involved in education. I encourage our 3,500 employees around the world to volunteer and support their local organizations.”
Riverhead released the jacket of Khaled Hosseini‘s AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED through the Wall Street Journal, along with offering a “new synopsis”: “In a multigenerational novel revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families love, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by theactions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe – from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos – the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.”
Prometheus Books will be sold and distributed by Random House Publisher Services as of April 1, RHPS will provide exclusive sales and distribution for all physical and digital titles. Up until now, the company has self-distributed, since its founding in 1969.
ePublisher Premier Digital announced a strategic alliance with Ingram. Their Ingram Publisher Services unit will sell and distribute print versions of the Premier Digital list in the US and Canada, manufactured via print on demand from Ingram’s Lightning Source. Premier will also use Ingram;s digital asset management platform CoreSource for all e-content delivery.
In the UK, Arcadia Books was purchased out of bankruptcy by MediaFund. Andrew Gifford, whose parents once owned Duckworth and who was “a primary investor in 4th Estate and Arcadia” is investing in the new entity, too. Founder and publisher Gary Pulsifer is staying on, with MediaFund’s Piers Russell-Cobb as managing director.
Evan S. Connell, 88, author of SON OF MORNINGSTAR as well as the novels MRS. BRIDGE and MR. BRIDGE (adapted into a movie starring movie starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward), died last Thursday at home in Santa Fe, NM.
Author and editorial director of The Creative Company in Mankato, MN, Aaron Frisch died unexpectedly on Monday, January 7, 2013. Frisch wrote many books for children and young adults, including nonfiction titles on topics ranging from coral reefs to motocross to professional sports.