Simon Green has joined Abrams Artists Agency to lead company’s book and publishing division. Green was at CAA, where he started the book department in 2009, until last spring. The agency says Green’s hiring “reflects [their] commitment to growing the company with distinguished agents as the agency continues to expand its roster of both agents and clients.” (Steve Ross, who started the book division for Abrams, created his own agency last fall.)
Claire Roberts has founded her own literary agency, Claire Roberts Global Literary Management. In addition to author representation, the company also handles rights for a “select group of publishers and other literary agencies wanting to extend their reach into markets around the world.” She was most recently vp and managing director of the foreign rights department at Trident Media Group, where she represented her own clients as well.
At Trident Media Group, Erica Spellman Silverman has been promoted to senior vice president, literary agent, and motion picture/television agent.
Brenna English-Loeb has joined Transatlantic Agency as assistant agent. She was previously at Janklow & Nesbit.
Amanda Murray, formerly executive editor at Hachette Books, is working as an independent editor/collaborator at Amanda Murray Editorial.
Kaiya Muniz has joined Simon & Schuster Children’s associate national account manager. She was most recently children’s national account sales associate at Hachette Book Group.
Alison Forner has moved over to Avid Reader Press as art director, though she will continue to work with Jackie Seow on list at the Simon & Schuster imprint, where she has worked since 2015.
At Kids Can Press, Amelie Roberge has been promoted to manager, operations; Alison Lapp to sales associate; and Kate Patrick to marketing associate.
Maryn Arreguin has joined Sourcebooks as art director, children’s. She has worked in children’s books, products, and toys as an independent designer, and was senior art director at Publications International.
Hachette UK has restructured its international sales team. Group international sales director Ben Wright will leave in April to join Harper UK. Abigail Mitchell will serve as international sales director for Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe; Matt Cowdery, Paul Kenny, Robert Wiltshire and a new head of Europe will report to her. Rachael Hum has been promoted to the new position of international sales director responsible for ANZ (excluding Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, John Murray and Quercus), India and the Americas. Simon McArt, Anna Kelsall and Ellie Kyrke-Smith will report to her. Eleanor Wood has been promoted to international sales and product director.
Forthcoming
Little, Brown will publish Malcolm Gladwell‘s new book, TALKING TO STRANGERS on September 10. His first book in five years, it centers on “our interactions with strangers—and why they often go wrong,” and examines a variety of events, including the Bernie Madoff scandal, the Amanda Knox trial, Sylvia Plath’s suicide, the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal, and the death of Sandra Bland.
Picks
Barnes & Noble named Tara Conklin’s The Last Romantics as their February book club selection.
Gretchen Rubin has launched the Happier Podcast Book Club, and the first pick is Dani Shapiro’s Inheritance.
Awards
PEN America will honor Sandra Cisneros with the 2019 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature at a ceremony on February 26.