Longtime vp, director of publicity at Viking Penguin Carolyn Coleburn is stepping aside from her duties on December 1. She will take on the new role of vp, executive publicist, in order to “allow her to concentrate her full-time energies and expertise on individual publicity campaigns, while allowing more flexibility with the commute between her home in Philadelphia and our Hudson Street offices.” Succeeding Coleburn as director of publicity on December 1 is Lindsay Prevette, about whom Brian Tart said in the announcement: “She is highly respected by, and collaborative with, editors, authors, media, and booksellers. I am looking forward to working with her in this new role, and I am delighted that her skill set and dedication will now benefit the entire Viking list.”
Beth Sutinis has joined Time Inc. Books as executive editor, reporting to Anja Schmidt. Previously Stutinis was a freelance publishing consultant and before then spent 13 years at DK Publishing, where she rose to publishing director, children’s books. In addition, Georgia Morrissey has been named art director, children’s. Previously she was art director for for Sky Pony Press.
Closing
The BookHampton bookstores in Southampton and East Hampton will close after the holidays, owner Charline Spektor announced. She comments: “My decision to move on is strictly personal. I want to focus all my energy on the nation’s gun violence crisis, and be able to fully participate in reclaiming our country’s sanity and safety. I had to make a choice. And now I think we’re all hoping that someone will come along, a white knight who’ll step in and rescue BookHampton; that would be a fairy tale ending.”
Buying Back
Barnes & Noble announced that the board has approved a new $50 million stock repurchase program. (That’s equal to about 5 percent of the shares outstanding if they use the full purchasing authority.)
Reference
Looking ahead to the new year, we’ve already posted a highlights list of notable January 2016 releases to look for. And looking back, we have a pretty thorough list of 2015’s many award winners so far.