Jaime Noven has joined Celadon as marketing manager, reporting to associate publisher Rachel Chou. Previously she worked in marketing and publicity at Princeton Architectural Press and The Monacelli Press.
Alison Petersen has joined Chronicle as managing editor, entertainment. Previously she was at Stanford University Hoover’s Institute as book production manager and editorial manager.
Gwydion Suilebhan has been named the executive director of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, starting January 15. Suilebhan is currently director of brand and marketing for Woolly Mammoth Theatre
Company, and he is also a playwright, screenwriter, and poet.
Meghan O’Rourke will take over as the new editor of The Yale Review on July 1, 2019, on the 200th anniversary of the magazine. She is the author of the memoir The Long Goodbye and three collections of poetry and has worked as an editor at The New Yorker, culture editor and literary critic for Slate, and poetry editor for The Paris Review.
Bookselling
Japanese bookstore chain Kinokuniya has confirmed that it will open its thirteenth US store in Portland in the Guild Theatre space on Director Park. Plans for the store were first reported back in June, but not details were not confirmed. Kinokuniya said in a release that they “will respect the historic importance of the theater, and will strive to preserve the exterior to honor it for posterity.” They plan to carry “carefully selected books, unique merchandise and Japanese stationery, with a focus on art and comics from Japan which have been strengths in our existing stores.”
Distribution
Elsevier has sold their Linn, MI fulfillment and distribution center to LSC Communications, and all Elsevier employees at the facility will be transferred to LSC in 2019. As a result, LSC will provide book fulfillment and distribution services for Elsevier’s US markets in 2019, in a new multi-year agreement, and will service other clients from the warehouse as well. President of book sales at LSC Dave McCree says in the announcement, “The Linn, Missouri warehouse distribution center is a strategic fit to our Book Publisher Services platform and expands our fulfillment and distribution footprint. We look forward to providing fulfillment services to Elsevier and future clients out of the Linn facility.”
Celebrating
POC in Pub held its 3rd annual holiday party and book swap at Solas in the East Village, with a young, energized crowd of about 150 packed into the second floor. The group’s ranks have swelled since it was founded in 2016 by Patrice Caldwell, who introduced the evening’s special guests, Namrata Tripathi and Joanna Cárdenas from Kokila Books, a Penguin Children’s imprint dedicated to “centering stories from the margins.” Booki Vivat, the group’s outreach and events co-chair, noted that the group is focused both on hiring and retention, providing much needed support for POC in an industry that hovers between 80 and 90 percent white. Vivat described her own entry into the business as a “total fluke,” and said that she was surprised to learn how many other POC in publishing had similarly unlikely stories. “It shouldn’t require a fluke or a miracle for people of color to find a foothold in publishing,” she said.
Interviewed
This week’s NYT By the Book interview is with Michelle Obama, who says Zadie Smith’s White Teeth is the last great book she read and her next read is Tara Westover’s Educated. She states, “This one came from Barack. I actually just finished it, and it is as phenomenal as he — and everyone else — says it is. It’s an engrossing read, a fresh perspective on the power of an education, and it’s also a testament to the way grit and resilience can shape our lives.”