Fiona Kennedy is leaving her position as managing director and publisher of Orion Children’s “to pursue other interests.” The company confirms to the Bookseller that “a small number of roles” were eliminated over the last year following the consolidation of Hachette UK’s three children’s lines into a single unit.
Also at Hachette UK, the company is closing their digital-only vintage crime imprint The Murder Room, and publisher Julia Silk will leave the company at the end of January after 10 years at Orion. In a statement Orion said, “After three years, it is clear that the market is not as buoyant as we’d anticipated in this area of deep backlist and we do not see the potential for this changing.”
Author Geraldine Brooks was named an Officer in the Order of Australia “for distinguished service to literature as a leading author, an advocate for improved Indigenous literacy, a role model for young writers, and a journalist.”
Legal
Jennifer Pedroza took another step forward in trying to collect her share of Fifty Shades royalties already awarded to her by a Texas Court in her suit against former Writers’ Coffee Shop partner Amanda Hayward. The previous award of $10.6 million — now adding $900,000 in interest and $1.7 million in attorney’s fees — was signed by District Judge Susan McCoy. But Pedroza will not get paid yet, pending an appeal by Hayward.