Andy Ward has been promoted to president and editor-in-chief of the Random House imprint effective immediately, reporting to Susan Kamil, who transfers her EIC duties and remains as publisher. She says the promotion is “in recognition of the bestselling and critically lauded titles he has brought to Random House, his universally acknowledged editorial gifts and publishing skill, the respect he elicits from his authors, peers, and the agent community, and his motivating, nurturing collaboration with his colleagues.”
Kamil “will be concentrating on the long-term and day-to-day publishing decisions for our lists, while Ward is “responsible for the daily management of the Random House editorial department, whose senior editors and editors now become his direct reports.” Kamil “will edit those authors with whom I have worked previously and will continue to acquire and edit a list of fiction and nonfiction,” and executive editorial director and associate publisher Kate Medina continues in her roles and reports to Gina Centrello.
Michelle Brower will work as an agent with both Kuhn Projects and Zachary Shuster Harmsworth out of the two firms’ shared New York City office on November 2. She was previously at Folio Literary Management for six years.
Sarah Younger has been promoted to agent at the Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
At Simon & Schuster, Maureen Cole has been promoted to senior publicity manager.
Priscilla McGeehon is joining Thames & Hudson as publisher of its textbook division, succeeding Ian Jacobs, who held the post for the past 15 years. McGeehon was most recently publisher at Fairchild Books. In addition, Harry Burton moves up to publicity and marketing director, and Elizabeth Keene is promoted to associate managing editor.
Last night on late-night TV, Jonathan Franzen read Stephen Colbert a bedtime story about “a girl named little red reading hood who loved her local independent bookstores,” which get swalled by a big bad wolf (finishing with a display of Purity, pulled from an Amazon shipping box) — while Lauren Groff discussed Fates and Furies with Seth Myers (who actually read the book).
Yesterday was both Curtis Brown Spirit Day and, in Minnesota, Marlon James Day. It was also the deadline for Apple to file their formal petition for a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to hear their appeal of the rulings in the ebook antitrust case. The filing is not registered in the court’s online docket yet, though presumably that will be updated shortly. In the meantime, Apple previewed their argument in the seven-page application asking for more time to file last month.