Former Berkley Publishing Group president Leslie Gelbman has joined St. Martin’s Press as executive editor-at-large, effective immediately. The move was widely expected since the announced signing of Nora Roberts – whom Gelbman edited – by SMP in early March. In her 27 years at Penguin, Gelbman also edited such authors as Ken Follett, Patricia Cornwell, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Julie Garwood. SMP president and publisher Sally Richardson said in the announcement: “We have long admired Leslie’s legendary gift for acquiring and editing some of the most popular storytellers of our time and she will continue to do the same for us. I am thrilled that she will now be right down the hall – a great new addition to SMP.” Gelbman added: “I am honored and excited to be joining SMP and I look forward to doing what I love most – working directly with talented authors.”
James G. (Jim) Neal, university librarian emeritus at Columbia University, was elected president-elect of the American Library Association. (That means he will serve as president-elect for one year, before becoming president at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.
Global chief technology officer at AOL William Pence joined Wiley’s board of directors as of May 1.
At Chronicle Books, Joya Anthony has been promoted to subsidiary rights manager.
Veronica Grijalva has joined Jane Starr Literary Scouts as an associate scout. Previously she worked at Scholastic.
Awards
The National Book Foundation has awarded its Innovations in Reading Prize to the Next Chapter Book Club, a community-based reading program for adolescents and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.