Anna Knutson has joined Barer Literary as foreign rights director. Knutson was previously a senior literary scout at Maria B. Campbell Associates.
Stephanie Kim has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as senior publicist. Previously she was public relations coordinator at Hulu.
Sara Grubb has joined the Irene Goodman Literary Agency full-time to manage the agency’s audio rights.
Karen Li will join OwlKids as editorial director on July 15. Previously she was a senior editor at Kids Can Press.
Simone Garzella Literary Scouting has been appointed US literary scout for Massolit Forlag in Sweden and KRP in Turkey.
Award-winning journalist for Rolling Stone and BuzzFeed Michael Hastings, 33, died Tuesday morning in a car crash in Los Angeles. He was the author of THE OPERATORS (2012) and the 2012 election ebook PANIC 2012, both published by Blue Rider Press. Publisher David Rosenthal said in a statement that Hastings’ death “cuts short a life dedicated to speaking truth to power. He was a truthteller, a charming provocateur and a relentless seeker of decency in a nasty world.”
Thriller writer Vince Flynn, 47, died Wednesday morning at United Hospital in St. Paul, MN from complications of prostate cancer, WCCO-TV reports. Flynn was the author of 15 novels, all but one featuring government counter-terrorism operative Mitch Rapp. His most recent book was THE LAST MAN, published by Atria last November. Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy said in a statement: “As good as Vince was on the page – and he gave millions of readers countless hours of pleasure – he was even more engaging in person. He had a truly unique ability to make everyone – from those of us at Simon & Schuster who were fortunate to be part of his publication, to booksellers an retailers around the nation, and most of all, his readers, with whom he had a very close relationship –feel as if we were on his team and sharing in his life and his success.”
In the UK, Sally Gardner‘s MAGGOT MOON won the Carnegie Medal, and Levi Pinfold‘s BLACK DOG won the Kate Greenaway Medal.
Michelle de Kretser won Australia’s Miles Franklin Prize for her novel A QUESTION OF TRAVEL.
Alice Munro won Canada’s Trillium Book Award for her short story collection DEAR LIFE.
Penguin’s Grosset & Dunlap imprint announced a contest that will award a $10,000 contract to write the first book in a new young adult series based on Jim Henson’s 1982 fantasy film THE DARK CRYSTAL. Entries of between 7500-10000 words will be accepted between October 1, 2013 and January 1, 2014.