Catherine Makk will join HarperCollins as vp, global insight on June 8, reporting to Chantal Restivo-Alessi. Makk was previously director, retail and consumer insights at Vogue and in her role will also serve as consumer insight lead for Harlequin, HarperCollins Canada and the company’s global publishing team. In addition, Jim Hanas has been promoted to senior director, audience development & insight, while Allison Jarvela has been named senior manager, consumer insight. Jarvela was previously a market research analyst at Wiley.
Sarah Knight is leaving Simon & Schuster, where she was a senior editor for the past five years, on June 10 to launch Sarah Knight Books, providing freelance editorial, book doctoring, and ghost writing services. She may be reached at sarah@sarahknightbooks.com.
Katie Parry is moving over to join the Dutton and Putnam marketing team as marketing manager. She has been at Penguin since 2007, most recently as sales manager, promotions. In addition, Emily Brock has been promoted to publicist at Dutton.
Sherri Slopianka has joined Humanix Books as director of publishing. Previously she was executive director, online sales at Worthy Publishing.
Neil Strandberg is leaving his position as director of technology at the American Booksellers Association to join Shelf Awareness as director of technology and operations.
Linda Kaplan’s Readmore Literary Management will represent foreign and translation subsidiary rights for the University of South Carolina Press and its Story River Books imprint.
Awards
Ali Smith‘s much-nominated How to be Both won the UK’s Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction. (The book was shortlisted for the Booker and the Folio Prize, and won the Costa Award for fiction.)
Dan Halpern will receive the Center for Fiction’s 2015 Maxwell E. Perkins Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Fiction.
The Poetry Foundation named Jacqueline Woodson as their new Young People’s Poet Laureate.
Distribution
Simon & Schuster will handle sales and distribution for Piggyback Interactive, publisher of official video game strategy guides, for titles releasing as of September 2015.
Initiatives
A dedicated Candlewick Press shop has launched at Zazzle.com and will carry more than 1,000 products featuring illustrations from Candlewick books (including baby products and clothing, gift wrapping and cards, home furnishings, stationery, and more).
Digital reading service Actively Learn announced a deal to include “thousands” of HarperCollins‘ “most popular K-12 titles” in Actively’s platform, which lets teachers purchase short-term access to those ebooks for their students.