Margaux Weisman has joined Penguin as editor, moving over from Vintage/Anchor where she was editor.
Mora Couch has been promoted to associate editor at Holiday House.
Lion Forge Comics has eliminated 12 positions, including editor Greg Tumbarello, Bleeding Cool reported. In line with the positioning of other publisher layoffs recently, the company says they fired people to fuel their future: “We are restructuring from the top down, and across departments to ensure that our organization’s size and structure remains in line with our sales, as well as providing support for future increase in title output.”
They note: “Lion Forge has experienced a tremendous amount of growth over the last three years. While the company remains healthy, we have taken a hard look at how best to focus our efforts for continued success. As part of this process, we have made some difficult decisions, and none more difficult than in the case of personnel.” As noted recently, Lion Forge president Geoff Gerber left the company in August.
Interviewed
Margaret Atwood told the Los Angeles Times she wrote THE TESTAMENT, her forthcoming sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, because, “Number one, it’s fun” and also because she has been getting requests for 35 years. More seriously, she noted that “the news has become so much more extreme,” citing proposed abortion legislation in Ohio making motherhood “mandatory.”
Bookselling
Barnes & Noble in Bloomington, Indiana will close in February 2019, after 23 years of operation. The store is a popular study spot for Indiana University students.
Separately, Harbor Books in Sag Harbor, NY will also close in February, saying they cannot “sustain with the rent increase schedule.” Taylor Rose Berry says she is “looking for a creative solution to keep our store on Main Street.”