Harper announced the creation of Harper Collins Hungary. Harlequin Hungary and junior joint venture partner Vinton, which have operated for 25 years, will rebrand under the Harper Collins name, continuing to publish romance and expanding the trade line with titles from HarperCollins and Harlequin, as well as local authors. Beatrix Vasko, editor-in-chief of HarperCollins Hungary, says: “HarperCollins, with its 200-year history, provides a solid framework for us to grow our publishing program and expand into new genres.”
Amazon is searching for a location for a second US headquarters that they’re calling HQ2, a “full equal to our Seattle headquarters.” Bloomberg reports that the company is inviting state and local governments to submit proposals through next month for a development that may house as many as 50,000 employees and cost more than $5 billion. Founder and ceo Jeff Bezos said in a statement: “Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in up-front and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs.”
Caroline Acebo has joined Brower Literary & Management as director of foreign rights. The agency will no longer use Bookcase Literary Agency as its foreign agent, as of October 13.
Mitch Black has been named ceo of Author Solutions, effective immediately. He was president of MOBI, a cloud-based, managed-mobility-software company in Indianapolis.
Kaplan/Defiore will now handle translation rights for Templeton Press.
Alanna Feldman Scouting has been appointed US scout for Karakter in the Netherlands.
Distribution
Ingram is rebranding Perseus Distribution and will call that unit Two River Distribution. Ingram Publisher Services vp Heidi Sachner says in the announcement, “Rivers is an Ingram family name which honors our new home and from a broader view, the name represents the role that we play as a distributor.” She adds, “The new name also recognizes the two teams in New York City and Nashville, whose efforts are integral to the brand’s success.”
Initiatives
The ABA and the Authors Guild have launched a program supporting emerging authors. Debut authors selected by independent bookseller’s for the ABA’s Indies Introduce list will be paired with established authors for events in their home region. The first event on October 24 will feature Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give) and Indies Introduce author Nic Stone (Dear Martin).
Awards
The 2017 Dayton Literary Peace Prize announced its shortlist. The finalists:
Fiction
Barkskins,by Annie Proulx
Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
Perfume River, by Robert Olen Butler
The Fortunes, by Peter Ho Davies
The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
The Veins of the Ocean, by Patricia Engel
Nonfiction
City of Thorns, by Ben Rawlence
Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
The Hundred-Year Walk, by Dawn MacKeen
The Song Poet, by Kao Kalia Yang
What Have We Done, by David Wood
While the City Slept, by Eli Sanders