At Ecco, Ashley Garland has been promoted to senior publicity manager.
Ami Greko will start working at Penguin Random House UK next Monday, as product manager of their author portal, reporting to digital publisher Dan Franklin. She was book marketing strategist at Goodreads before relocating to London earlier this year.
At Sourcebooks, Cat Clyne has been promoted to associate editor for Casablanca, their romance imprint. In addition, Skye Agnew has been promoted to associate managing editor.
At Open Road Integrated Media, David Adams has been promoted to editor.
Kerry Cahill has joined the Johns Hopkins University Press as sales director of the books division, succeeding Tom Lovett, who will retire June 30. Cahill has more than 20 years of publishing experience in sales and marketing, including 9 years at Cambridge University Press.
Mary Glenn has joined Humanix Books as publisher. Previously she was associate publisher at McGraw-Hill Professional.
The Library of Congress announced that James Hadley Billington will step down from his post as Librarian of Congress on January 1, 2016, after nearly three decades. Following yet another critical report in March, from the Government Accountability Office, citing a lack of “the leadership needed to address…IT management weaknesses” at the Library, the NYT says Billington is leaving “under fire” and “presided over a series of management and technology failures at the library that were documented in more than a dozen reports by government watchdog agencies.” But a Washington Post columnist offers a more moderate view: “Billington, has made a smart decision to retire. Now the focus will be on his legacy and his prescient decision, decades ago, to usher the library into the digital age. Rumors of dysfunction in top circles will fade, as will growing concerns about whether the 86-year-old, who has seemed to falter in some recent public appearances, is up to the job. The last responsibility of anyone who holds a lifetime office is to know when to leave, and Billington, who has served the library for 27 years, can now leave graciously.”
The 86-year-old librarian said in the announcement: “Over the years I have been asked if I have been thinking about retiring; and the answer has always been ‘not really,’ because this Library has always been not just my job, but my life. However, I have never had more faith in the leadership and staff of the Library of Congress. The Library’s new, top management team is as deeply experienced, and creatively collegial, as any I have ever known, and I am confident that they will continue to innovate, adapt and improve on the work we have undertaken during my time as Librarian of Congress.”
Forthcoming
Mulholland Books announced that J.K. Rowling’s third novel writing as Robert Galbraith, CAREER OF EVIL, will be published on October 20 in the US and October 22 in the UK.
EL James will launch her next novel GREY in the US at Barnes & Noble’s Fifth Avenue store on June 18 at 11:30 AM, her only NYC appearance.
Obituary
Paul Bacon, 91, designer of more than 6,500 book jackets over a 50-year career (including Portnoy’s Complaint and Catch-22), died June 8 in Fishkill, NY from complications of Alzheimer’s.
Bookstores
Anderson’s Bookshop is opening a new bookstore in La Grange, IL this summer. They launched an Indie GoGo campaign to help cover the costs of building out the store.