At Princeton University Press, Alison Kalett has been promoted to editorial director for the sciences; Eric Crahan moves up to editorial director for the humanities; and Sarah Caro has been promoted to editorial director for the social sciences, with all three reporting to Al Bertrand. In addition, Amanda Peery has been promoted to associate editor, history, and Jessica Yao moves up to associate editor.
Sports book publicity firm Press Box Publicity will become a division of Smith Publicity starting March 1. Smith Publicity ceo Dan Smith said, “This represents what I see as the perfect marriage of a top, genre-specific publicity professional with the industry’s most powerful multi-genre book marketing firm. [Press Box’s Adam Rifenberick] is one of the most connected publicists in the sports media market, with longstanding contacts at every major sports media outlets. With our size, resources, and marketing power, we’re well-suited to significantly expand into the sports book market.”
Slovenia will serve as the “guest of honor” at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2022.
Obituary
Founder of Souvenir Press in the UK Ernest Hecht, 88, died February 13. The Guardian calls him “the last of the great émigré publishers” noting that, “remarkably, Souvenir Press, which he founded in 1951 in his parents’ spare bedroom with a £250 loan from his father, was still proudly and indefatigably independent at the time of his death.”
Imprints
National Geographic Kids is launching a middle grade fiction imprint called Under the Stars this fall. The line will publish one fiction series a year, starting with Trudi Trueit’s Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secret on September 4.
Corporate
Printer Edwards Brothers Malloy announced that it will close its offset facility in Lillington, NC and “consolidate all offset printing operations into its Michigan location,” starting in April and to be completed by the end of 2018. Two other operations based in North Carolina — digital print operations, customer service, prepress, mailing services, and some bind services — will be consolidate into an existing facility during the year.
Approximately 100 employees will be “displaced” over the next 9 months, and those employees can apply for work in Ann Arbor, MI, where “some” jobs will be added. President and ceo John Edwards says in the announcement, “This was a very difficult decision,. We continue to see shrinking demand for offset printing and double-digit growth in digital printing. We want to increase our digital footprint and be sure we’re well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities and new markets.”
Milestone
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, started in 1995, mails books to children from birth until they start school at age 5, for free. This will she will mark having donated 100 million books by giving a book from her library to the Library of Congress.