Current Little Brown UK ceo Ursula Mackenzie will relinquish that position on July 1 and take on the role of chairman, working on “special projects” for the unit as well as Hachette UK through the end of 2016, when she will retire from publishing. Little Brown UK publisher David Shelley has been named deputy ceo, and will take over as ceo on July 1. He has joined the Hachette UK board as well.
Nathaniel Marunas has been appointed publisher of Quercus US, working locally under the supervision of Little, Brown publisher Reagan Arthur. The Quercus US unit reports in to Jason Bartholomew at Hachette UK, who will be director of Quercus US in addition to his current role as rights director for Hodder, Headline, John Murray Press and Quercus.
Marunas was involved in setting up the Quercus US business and will develop that list further in 2015, including “taking on exceptional talent from across the Hachette UK lists.”
Nita Pronovost moves to Simon & Schuster Canada as editorial director. She was senior editor at Doubleday Canada. Patricia Ocampo is also joining S&S Canada, as managing editor. She was most recently managing editor at Annick Press and has worked as both a literary agent and a freelance editor.
Andrea Hurst at Andrea Hurst & Associates is retiring from the agency division of her business after 13 years. The agency “will retain a few of their bestselling authors, including Dr. Bernie Siegel, but will no longer be accepting queries or new clients.” Hurst will continue her work as a developmental editor and consultant while pursuing her own work as a novelist.
National Book Award winner for Dog Soldiers Robert Stone, 77, died at home in Key West, FL of COPD on Saturday.
Martha Rago will join Random House/Golden Books Young Readers Group as creative director on February 2. Previously she was associate creative director at Harper Children’s for the past 12 years.
Sara Goodman has been promoted to senior editor at St. Martin’s.
Katie Powell as joined Icon Media Group as senior publicist. Previously she was a senior publicist at HarperCollins Christian Publishing, focusing on children’s books and gift items.
At Chronicle Books, Irene Kim has been promoted to visual content coordinator.
Former USA Today books reporter Bob Minzesheimer noted on Twitter he has taken a part-time job at the Village Bookstore in Pleasantville, NY (right down the street from the Jacob Burns Film Center).
In the Chronicle of Higher Education, W. Ralph Eubanks underscores “I am being forced out” of the position of editor at VQR at the end of a two-year contract “for someone else to build on a foundation that as editor I laid.”
Please note that Kristin Hannah’s new novel is simply called The Nightingale and, per the divisions we already listed, Maria Campbell Associates is scouting for Penguin Random House’s Portuguese-language units as well as their Spanish-language lines.