Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts has joined Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency as agent and rights director. She will be focusing on her literary fiction, narrative non-fiction list, and young adult list. Roberts was most recently an agent at Writers House. In addition, Leigh Eisenman and Tanusri Prasanna have both been promoted to agent. Eisenman will be growing her practical non-fiction and literary/upmarket fiction list, and Prasanna will focus on picture books, middle grade, and young adult titles.
At Holloway Literary, Kortney Price has been promoted to associate agent.
Susan Rella recently joined Melville House as managing editor. Previously she was managing editor at Gallery. Peter Clark joins the company as sales manager, after five years at Rosetta Books, where he was most recently director of sales. And Ian Dreiblatt has joined as digital marketing director, also overseeing the company’s MobyLives blog. He was previously senior publicist and academic marketing manager at Seven Stories Press.
The German Book Office in New York has renamed itself Frankfurt Book Fair New York. Thomas Minkus takes the title of president of the New York office, and Riky Stock is vice president, responsible for the Book Fair’s cultural activities in New York.
Representation
After a longtime relationship with Mary Evans, authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman will be represented by Dan Kirschen at ICM going forward.
Obituaries
President of the Harold Matson Co. literacy agency, Jonathan Philip Matson, 67, died unexpectedly of heart failure at home on January 31. For 30 years he continued his father’s legacy of collaborating with talented and accomplished authors, including Richard Condon, Robert Ruark, and Herman Wouk).
Service details
Author Howard Frank Mosher, 74, died in late January of cancer. St. Martin’s will publish his final book Points North, a story collection, in early 2018.
Awards
A new Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice has been created to “celebrate the power of the written word to create change in the name of justice for all people” and to honor longtime executive director Russo.
Events
Book Expo announced speakers for the single adult author breakfast at this year’s shortened show, on Thursday, June 1. There will be a new “prologue” from Stephen King and Owen King, co-authors of Sleeping Beauties (Scribner), and actor and comedian Whitney Cummings (I’m Fine…And Other Lies, Putnam) will host.
Scott Kelly, Endurance: My Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery (Knopf)
Kenya Barris, This is Basic Sh*t (Grand Central)
Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing (Scribner)
Claire Messud, The Burning Girl (Norton)