Robin Wolfson has been named to the new position of vp, Random House Speakers Bureau, assuming central leadership of the five-year-old division, which has been managed in decentralized fashion up until now, with multiple divisional directors for the company’s different publishing groups. Wolfson’s primary responsibilities are strategic oversight and business development; those divisional directors will continue to report within their groups.
Pete Beatty will join Open Road on May 28 as acquisitions director, reporting to Tina Pohlman. He was senior editor at Bloomsbury Press. Beatty is taking over for Stephanie Gorton, who is leaving to pursue a creative nonfiction MFA and will continue to edit on a freelance basis.
At Chronicle Books, Ryan Kelly has been promoted to national account manager. In addition, Julia Carvalho will join the special sales team as national account manager. Previously she was east coast sales representative at Taschen.
A memorial service for Peter Workman will be held on Tuesday, May 14 at 4:00 PM at the Roone Arledge Auditorium in Lerner Hall at Columbia University, 2920 Broadway (between 114th and 115th Streets.)
The Best Translated Book Awards went to László Krasznahorkai’s novel SATANTANGO, translated from Hungarian by Georges Szirtes (New Directions), and Nichita Stănescu’s poetry collection WHEEL WITH SINGLE SPOKE, translated from Romanian by Sean Cotter (Archipelago Books).