At Counterpoint, Charlie Winton will relinquish his role as publisher, while remaining as ceo and executive editor-at-large. Rolph Blythe will take over as publisher of Counterpoint/Soft Skull, starting May 1. But editorial director Jack Shoemaker and business manager Kelli Adams will continue to report to Winton.
In the release Winton says that “Counterpoint/Soft Skull is coming off our best year ever in 2012 with net revenues increasing over 30 percent” and “the company is well positioned for me to make this transition away from day to day operations.” He adds, “I think this change will allow me to stay creatively engaged and at the same time get a lot more balance in my life. By far and away it’s been a long remarkable run over the last 37 years.”
Blythe was marketing manager of Counterpoint at one point in his career, and most recently has been been an independent agent, after working for Dunow, Carlson and Lerner.
Tampa Bay bookstore Inkwood Books, which has been for sale since last summer, has a new owner: Stefani Beddingfield takes over April 1, current owners Carla Jimenez and Leslie Reinerannounced. They said: “We are proud to have the opportunity to pass forward a vibrant, healthy bookstore to Stefani, and are confident the new Inkwood will take great care of our devoted patrons as well as the new customers attracted by the fresh – admittedly younger – steward.” Jimenez is retiring from bookselling; Reiner will still work part-time at the store.
The New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers announced their newest fellows, who receive support while working on new books. They are fiction writers Tea Obreht, Rajesh Parameswaran, Paul La Farge, and Uwem Akpan; journalists Elif Batuman, David Grann, Arthur Lubow and Elizabeth Rubin; historians Linda Colley and Anthony Grafton; plus Lynn Garafola, Graciela Mochkofsky, Damion Searls, Peter Holquist, and Christopher Brown.
At Chronicle, Kelley Baker has been promoted to sales coordinator.
The founder of Frederator Books is Fred Seibert (we transposed the vowels) and of course the new line launches in 2013 (this year), not 2012.