Shawna Mullen will join Abrams as associate publisher, adult trade on December 15, reporting to Michael Sand. Previously she was executive editor at Taunton Press and before then, editorial director at Clarkson Potter, where she helped launch the Potter Craft imprint.
PEN announced a new PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize to support an unpublished manuscript that “addresses a global and/or multicultural issue,” from a writer under the age of 35.
As of January 1 eBook Architects will close their Austin, TX office. The core staff, including the unit’s lead Joshua Tallent, will continue their work with Firebrand (and their FlightDeck EPUB testing and validation tool) and will “refocus on tools, teaching and consulting work.” The company is discontinuing their ebook development services.
Ellie Pyle is joining DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint, based in Burbank, CA. Most recently, she was an associate editor at Marvel Comics.
Zoe Bohm will join Portfolio UK as editor, reporting to Joel Rickett. She has been a commissioning editor at Little Brown UK.
Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for the LA Times Richard Eder, 82, died last Friday from pneumonia brought on by post-polio syndrome. Before joining the LAT he was a foreign correspondent and then film and drama critic for the NYT. “His book reviews were known for their vivid, sometimes startling imagery and, informed by his professional travels, for their familiarity with and advocacy of global literature.”
Veteran publishing executive Pam McLucas Byers died in late October from cancer. Her last job in publishing was as publisher and editorial director of KQED Books & Video. After starting her career at Wiley, she worked at Doubleday, Simon & Schuster, and Harper San Francisco.