Sean Shoemaker will take over as president of Publishers Group West, effective April 1, after Susan Reich retires. Shoemaker has been with PGW for the past 20 years. Perseus Client Services president Mark Suchomel writes: “In addition to a strong operations and finance perspective, Sean brings to the role a keen awareness of the needs of PGW’s clients and customers, and the value PGW brings to both. He has a stellar reputation as a straight shooter and is held in the highest regard by clients and his colleagues at PGW and Perseus. Importantly, Sean has the historical perspective and deep understanding of what is required to build on PGW’s extraordinary legacy as an industry leader.”
At Holt, Jason Liebman has been promoted to marketing director, digital technology.
Christina Tomasulo has been named senior manager, proprietary & display marketing sales at HarperCollins. Previously she was director, special sales for Downtown Bookworks and worked as an independent consultant, prior to which she was director of specialty wholesale, mail-order & catalog sales at Simon & Schuster.
Mark Zuckerberg‘s newest choice for Facebook’s A Year of Books is On Immunity by Eula Biss.
Oliver Sacks, 81, reveals in a NYT op-ed that he has terminal cancer. “I feel a sudden clear focus and perspective. There is no time for anything inessential. I must focus on myself, my work and my friends….I shall no longer pay any attention to politics or arguments about global warming. This is not indifference but detachment — I still care deeply about the Middle East, about global warming, about growing inequality, but these are no longer my business; they belong to the future.”
Jake Silverstein introduces the relaunched version of the New York Times Magazine, which will feature a poem every week, selected and introduced by Natasha Trethewey. New columns with well-known contributors include First Words (“a prolonged consideration of a telling word or phrase”), whose writers will include Virginia Heffernan, Colson Whitehead, Amanda Hess and Michael Pollan, and a quarter of standing critics (Teju Cole on photography; Adam Davidson on money; Troy Patterson on clothing; and Helen Macdonald on nature).