Ann Ralph will retire from Simon & Schuster on October 30 after more than 45 years with the company, most recently as director of paper purchasing and inventory management. She began her career in the accounts payable department at Macmillan (acquired by S&S in 1994) and rose to her current position in 1988. Succeeding Ralph is Christian Grzancic, currently senior manager of paper purchasing and inventory management, and reporting to Joe Bulger.
Bulger said of Ralph’s retirement: “Highly regarded among her peers in the industry, Ann has built an impressive network of relationships including vendors, paper brokers and mill personnel as well as her colleagues in Adult and Children’s production. We have always been able to depend on her expertise and creativity in finding the right paper at the right time in the right amount and at the best price, recognizing each book for its unique properties and satisfying those requirements. Ann has always insisted that she is motivated by her “love of books” and this comes across in her passion and dedication. We will miss her on both a professional and personal level.”
At Putnam, Helen Richard has been promoted to assistant editor.
At F+W Media, Kerry Bogert has been promoted to editorial director for Interweave and Fons & Porter books.
At Paper Lantern Lit, both Rhoda Belleza and Kamilla Benko have been promoted to editor, and Tara Sonin moves up to marketing manager.
In the UK, at Quercus editor-in-chief Jon Riley will become publisher of a new, yet to be named, imprint which will focus on literary fiction and quality crime. Stef Biewerth has been promoted to publisher, Quercus Fiction, while former Canongate publishing director Katy Follain will join Quercus as publisher, nonfiction on November 2. Managing director Jon Butler says in the announcement: “By empowering Jon, Stef and Katy to mark out and own clear areas of excellence, I’m confident that we can build on our great start to life at Hachette and develop our reputation for finding the best authors and storytelling from around the world, for a truly international readership.”
Scholastic announced a commitment to donating $25,000 to Save the Children for immediate Syrian relief efforts and will match employee contributions up to an additional $25,000, for a total donation of up to $50,000. In addition, Scholastic will continue with a long-term plan to donate culturally relevant, age-appropriate books and other educational materials through its My Arabic Library collection – a comprehensive Arabic-language classroom library program for grades 1–6.