Jennifer Egan will succeed Andrew Solomon as president of PEN America. She will be the first to oversee the newly unified PEN America and PEN Center USA, which announced the completion of its consolidation into a single entity.
Rachel Rosenfelt will join the New Republic as publisher and vice-president on March 12. She is the founder of online magazine The New Inquiry and has been creative director for Verso Books.
CEO of BookPeople in Austin, TX Steve Bercu will retire from full-time bookselling in June. Elizabeth Jordan, who has worked at the store since 2002, has been promoted to general manager, and Consuelo Wilder has been named the adult book buyer and inventory operations supervisor.
Managing director of Bloomsbury Consumer publishing Emma Hopkin is taking over day-to-day running of adult trade publishing from group editor-in-chief Alexandra Pringle. Pringle retains her title and will continue to acquire and publish her own list.
Hopkin said in the announcement: “With the advent of a new financial year, Alexandra decided the time felt right to hand on the management of the list and staff and concentrate all her energies on the brilliant authors she has brought and continues to bring to Bloomsbury; and to publish them with her prowess and expertise. I am delighted she remains core to our publishing; and I’m looking forward to working more closely with the entire team.”
Kevin Lewis has joined Erin Murphy Literary Agency as agent, focusing on writer-illustrators and on diverse voices. Previously he was an editor at Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Disney.
Meredith Vilarello has been promoted to associate publisher at Touchstone, reporting to Susan Moldow.
Michael Signorelli has left his position as senior editor at Holt.
At Little, Brown, Sabrina Benun has been promoted to associate marketing director, James Patterson/Jimmy; Sasha Henriques to assistant editor, James Patterson/Jimmy; Lauren Harms to art director, Little, Brown; Tracy Shaw to senior art director, Jimmy; Nicky Guerreiro to assistant editor, Little, Brown; and Lauren Passell to director of social media, Little, Brown.
At Simon & Schuster Children’s Jasmine Ye has been promoted to associate production editor.
Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn tells Chicago Magazine in an interview:”I’m about halfway through a solid first draft of my next novel. It’s very sinister and dark, and there are definitely some funny pieces to it. Brett, my husband, has read the first page, which is a f—-ng spectacular first page. It’s the greatest first page that’s ever been written.”
Picks
The March Pennie’s Pick at Costco is Kathy Hepinstall’s The Book of Polly.
Target announced its Book Club picks for the next three months are Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood (March), Kathleen Glasgow’s Girl In Pieces (April), and Janelle Brown’s Watch Me Disappear (May).
Awards
The €150,000 Erasmus Prize will be given to Barbara Ehrenreich, with this year’s prize theme The Power of Investigative Journalism. They write: “Barbara Ehrenreich is commended for her courage in putting herself on the line in her journalistic work. By leading the life of people in precarious situations, she gives a voice to groups in society that would otherwise remain unheard, and she lets us see life as people on the underside of society live it.”
Elizabeth Strout won the Story Prize for Anything Is Possible (Random House).