Former editorial director at Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks Cal Morgan will join Riverhead as vp, executive editor. Riverhead president and publisher Geoffrey Kloske said in the announcement: “I’ve always admired Cal’s innovative literary vision and passion for books and publishing. After a few decades of competing against him I’m thrilled to have him join the community at Riverhead.” Morgan joins Riverhead after more than 14 months away from trade publishing; he left HarperCollins, where he was also executive editor at Harper, “to take a pause” in November 2015 after more than 16 years with the company.
Denise Silvestro will join Kensington on February 27 as executive editor, Citadel Press. Previously she spent 21 years at Berkley, most recently as executive editor.
Dustin Kurtz will join Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull as social media editor, working out of the company’s Portland, OR offices. Most recently he was manager of Books & Books Grand Cayman.
Dark Horse Comics has hired founder of DC Comics Vertigo imprint Karen Berger to start a new line of creator-owned comic books and graphic novel, Berger Books.
James Magnuson will retire from his position as director of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas in May, after 23 years with the university. The program was started in 1993 and Magnuson became the first (and only) full-time director in 1994. A search is underway for a replacement.
In the UK, Matt Haslum is leaving Faber on February 28 after 4 years as consumer marketing director, deciding that the company’s direct to consumer relationships and activities are now “well advanced and embedded across the company.”
Dutch children’s book author and illustration Dick Bruna, 89, creator of Miffy the white rabbit, died last Thursday at home in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Forthcoming
The Tom Hanks‘ story collection that Knopf acquired in late 2014 has been announced for publication on October 24. UNCOMMON TYPE: Some Stories, presents 17 stories, “each in some way involving a different typewriter,” including stories about”an immigrant arriving in New York City after his family and life have been torn apart by his country’s civil war; a man who bowls a perfect game (and then another, and another), becoming ESPN’s newest celebrity; an eccentric billionaire and his faithful executive assistant on the hunt for something larger in America; and the junket life of an actor.”