Nathan Rostron has joined Restless Books as director of marketing. Previously he was an editor at Bookish.
Former Bertelsmann ceo Thomas Middelhoff is leaving the board of the New York Times Company, where he has served as a director since 2003.
The late Ali Gunn’s company Gunn Media said in a statement, “We intend to keep her business well cared for, as she would have expected. Any current contracts with Gunn Media will be treated as business as usual, whilst outstanding negotiations will be put on hold, for the time being.” The Bookseller says that queries should be directed to Douglas Kean (douglas@gunnmedia.co.uk).
Andrew O’Hagan has a 25,000 word piece in the London Review of Books recounting his experience working with Julian Assange on the autobiography the WikiLeaks founder never really wanted to see written. Among other things, O’Hagan makes clear he didn’t ask to have his name removed from the project after it became a problem; one of O’Hagan’s conditions when accepting the job was that he did not want his name on the book: “I thought I would have a kind of authorly freedom by not being the author on the cover. I told Jamie [Byng] I didn’t want my name anywhere on the book and that I wouldn’t give interviews or talk about the project. I wouldn’t become a WikiLeaks spokesman or go on Newsnight or confirm anything with the newspapers. I wanted to let the work speak for itself. I was assured this would work and Julian agreed.”
Susan Rebecca White‘s March 4 release A PLACE AT THE TABLE is the March Target Book Club pick.
Vook has acquired analytics start-up Booklr, and co-founder Josh Brody will move with to Vook as their chief operating officer.
Longtime literary agent Roz Cole, 88, died of cancer February 20 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital. Over a six-decade career, Cole represented authors, actors, artists, and celebrities including Andy Warhol, Brendan Behan, Errol Flynn, and Olivia de Havilland, and was the author of several books, including THE WALDORF ASTORIA COOKBOOK (using recipes from the hotel where Cole lived since 1961.) A memorial service is planned for June.