At Simon & Schuster, Allison Stegeland has been promoted to the newly created position of international sales manager. Shannon Grant joins the independent sales team as field sales account manager for the Southern California and Arizona region as well as select educational jobbers. She was previously senior children’s book buyer at Books Inc. Gabrielle Greco becomes telesales manager, starting June 17. Melissa Hurt joins as telesales manager, effective June 24. She was previously sales support coordinator for special markets at Harper Collins.
Kristen Bianco has been promoted to associate publicist for Algonquin Books and Algonquin Children’s.
Morgan Hoit will join Avid Reader Press on June 24 as associate marketing manager, focused on social media channels. She was an associate at Jill Furman Productions and is also known as @nycbookgirl on Instagram.
Gina Iaquinta has been promoted to associate editor at Liveright.
At Westwood Creative Artists, Chris Casuccio will expand his activities to share more clients with agent John Pearce, and also represent clients independently.
Rachel Hecht Children’s Scouting and Baker Literary Scouting have been appointed as the children’s and adult scouts respectively for Alexandra Group in Hungary (including imprints Európa, Alexandra, Cartaphilus, Pioneer Books, and L&L).
Bookselling
Strand Bookstore has been designated an NYC landmark, after protests from the store’s owner and the community. “It’s a historic institution that reflects the era of book row, the center of book-selling,” said Sarah Carroll, Landmark Preservation committee chair, at a meeting on Tuesday. “I’m confident that the commission’s review of the masterplan and any future applications will provide [the] flexibility the Strand needs to remain nimble and innovative and to continue its important place in New York City, and adapt to a changing retail climate.” Owner Nancy Bass Wyden said at a press conference after the meeting, “Landmarks has made it clear that they will take over all decision-making for this building. Tonight, I’m going to try to figure out how to keep the Strand.”