As some authors found out at the beginning of the week, editorial director for Harper Paperback and Perennial Cal Morgan will be leaving HarperCollins on November 20 after 16 years at the company. He writes on Facebook: “After the past few years of intensive work, I’ve increasingly felt the need to take a pause, to seed my own garden for a while, to read books I haven’t read, do some writing, and start planning some new projects of my own. So it’s with mingled sorrow and joy that I’m calling November 20 my last day at HarperCollins. My authors will be cared for by the editors of Harper Books and Dey Street Books; the Harper Perennial family of imprints will abide under the care of Jonathan Burnham and Amy Baker. And I’ll still be around, online and off, gathering threads for a new nest.”
Morgan also notes his “enormous admiration for scores of talented colleagues over the years, in every department of the company; the experience of helping to build and grow a series of vibrant imprints, including our treasured Harper Perennial; and the honor of working with a wealth of inspired creators—writers of short fiction and long, first novels and last; biographers and photographers; actors and poets; comedians and tragedians; journalists and artists; liberals and conservatives; provocateurs and merrymakers; conjurers of surprise and delight and wisdom. Every book, every word, every comma we’ve published together has been a thrill and an honor.”
French publishing trade magazine Livres Hebdo reports that two young editors were among those killed in the terrorist attack at Paris’s Bataclan concert hall on Friday evening. Lola Salines, 29, was a children’s book editor at Gründ (part of Editis), and Ariane Theiller, 23, worked at Rustica Hebdo (part of Media Participations).
Following speculation after David Nussbaum left FW Media to take over as ceo of America’s Test Kitchen, founder and president Christopher Kimball‘s “employment is ending.” The company says that, “while Kimball’s departure is immediate, he remains host for the 2016 seasons of the America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country television shows.” Nussbaum says in the release, “Since its inception, Chris has been an important component of America’s Test Kitchen, as the co-founder of the business. We made every effort to offer Chris a reasonable contract that reflected his significant contributions to the company and are disappointed that we could not reach agreement.” He adds, “We know this change will be a surprise to many, but we are confident that the ensemble cast, 50 test cooks, and support team for America’s Test Kitchen will continue to offer our audiences the same high quality product going forward.”
At Melville House, Julia Fleischaker has been named promoted to director of marketing and publicity. Chad Felix joins the company as manager of direct sales and library marketing (he was a bookseller at Word Books and digital coordinator doing social media for the New York Public Library); Ena Brdjanovic has been hired as director of digital marketing and editor of the MobyLives blog (she was a digital marketing coordinator at Harper Collins); and Kait Howard is now a publicist for the house (formerly a publicist at Thames & Hudson).
At Chronicle Books, Emily Cervone joins as trade sales representative, New England. Previously she worked in the sales department at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Vanessa Navarrete has joined as associate sales manager/independent specialty. She previously worked at Perseus as gift sales assistant manager. Finally, Stephanie Blake has been named junior financial analyst.
David Ivester has joined Reputation Books — a digital publisher servicing clients of Kimberley Cameron & Associates — as marketing and publicity director. He was previously marketing and publicity manager of Oceanview Publishing.
Perseus Books Group International has hired Jane Pickett as UK publicity director for the Perseus Books Group imprints. Most recently she was head of publicity at Abrams & Chronicle Books and Norton.
Bookmasters will become the North American warehouse partner for Turpin Distribution, an international fulfillment and distribution company providing services to academic, scholarly, and professional publishers.