Natasha Simons has been promoted to senior editor for the “revitalized” Free Press imprint, while continuing to acquire and edit for Simon & Schuster’s general list. Jonathan Karp said in the announcement: “In the search for a new Free Press editor, I met with numerous outside candidates, but after reading Natasha’s ideas for the imprint, I was quickly convinced that she would infuse Free Press with new vision. As she put it, ‘I look forward, as a conservative millennial woman, to bringing a unique perspective to building a fresh, modern, forward-thinking imprint.'” He also notes, “Natasha is committed to helping relaunch Free Press with a stable of authors who are thought leaders in the fields of politics, sociology, history, biology, technology, and more. She intends to look for writers with new ideas and arguments and publish voices who are intellectual and commercial.”
Separately, Karp said of his longtime author John McCain in a statement: “It’s been my privilege to have edited all seven of John McCain and Mark Salter’s books. The wisdom in those books will endure, as will John McCain’s legacy of profoundly honorable and courageous service to America. May his words and his example continue to inspire citizens for years to come.”
Sourcebooks announced a number of recent promotions. Annie Berger has been promoted to senior editor, Jabberwocky and Fire imprints; Molly Fletcher has been promoted to marketing associate, eCommerce; Leyla Parada has been promoted to contracts attorney; Christy Droege has been promoted to data & analytics department manager; Stephanie Lewis moves up to business data & analytics manager; and Drew French is now data scientist.
Lee Child is donating his literary archives to the British Archive for Contemporary Writing at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Those documents include fan letters — and he tells the Guardian, “I’ve got tens of thousands of letters saying they didn’t like [Tom] Cruise [playing Jack Reacher in a movie] because he’s too small, basically.” Child says he is close to signing a deal to develop a television series around Reacher, “for productions that will devote between 10 and 12 hours to each book.”
Imprints
Running Press is launching an RP Studio line this fall, issuing “a range of paper goods” based on their titles, including notecards, journals, postcard books, stationery and more. Senior editor Shannon Connors Fabricant oversees the program, and they plan on producing 25 to 30 new titles a year.
Awards
Michelle de Kretser won Australia’s Miles Franklin Award for the second time, for The Life to Come.