At Basic Books, Ann Kirchner has been promoted to designer; Connie Capone to associate publicist; Brian Distelberg to senior editor; and Carrie Napolitano to assistant editor.
Justin Lovell and Miriam Riad have both been promoted to assistant editor at Da Capo Press.
At Running Press and Black Dog & Leventhal, Jessica Schmidt has been promoted to vp, associate publisher for Running Press; Frances Soo Ping Chow to creative director for all Running Press imprints; Frank Sipala to senior production manager and manager of product development; Shannon Connors Fabricant to senior editor; Amy Cianfrone to marketing and publicity manager; and Kara Thornton to senior publicist, focusing on Black Dog & Leventhal.
Rosie Welsh, previously of the Jonathan Clowes Literary Agents and The Wylie Agency, will join Eccles Fisher Associates as a literary scout on March 1.
Sara Chuirazzi, Jessica Fitzpatrick and Theresa Gaffney have all been promoted to associate publicist at Viking Penguin.
Andy Cumming will join the Quarto board as a non-executive director on March 1. The last 17 years of his full-time career were spent with Lloyds Banking Group in a variety of senior position.
British author of 17 novels Penny Vincenzi, 78, has died.
Imprints
Amazon Publishing announced a new imprint, Topple Books, to “spotlight the voices of women of color, gender non-conforming, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer writers.” Writer, filmmaker and Transparent creator Jill Soloway will serve as editor-at-large. Soloway said in the announcement, “We live in a complicated, messy world where every day we have to proactively re-center our own experiences by challenging privilege. With Topple Books we’re looking for those undeniably compelling essential voices so often not heard.” Little A editorial director Carmen Johnson will oversee the line along with Soloway, who was represented by Daniel Greenberg at Levine, Greenberg, Rostan.
IPO
Springer Nature, the joint venture between Holtzbrinck and BC Partners, is reportedly accelerating plans for their IPO last year in light of recent market volatility around the world. Initially aiming for a July listing, Reuters says the company will announce its IPO, for a listing on the Frankfurt stock exchange, in May, and expects the offering itself to launch in June. Most of the proceeds are expected to go towards paying down some of the company’s 3 billion euros in debt.