Baker & Taylor president David Cully will retire at the end of August. Cully joined Baker & Taylor in 2008 and became president in 2017. CEO of parent company Follett Pat Connolly said in a statement, “Since I joined Follett, David has been a valued and trusted member of my executive team. I will miss his wise and pragmatic counsel, exemplary character and quick sense of humor. I know he will enjoy this next chapter in life, returning to teaching, reading even more voraciously and spending time with his family.” Amandeep (Aman) Kochar has been named executive vice president of Baker & Taylor and will lead the business going forward.
In the UK, Louisa Joyner has been promoted to publishing director at Faber.
At Orion Fiction, Emad Akhtar has been promoted to publisher, and Francesca Pathak becomes publishing director.
Sue Cole has been named production director at Boyds Mills & Kane. Most recently, she was director of publishing production at Highlights for Children.
Agents Gaby Naher of The Naher Agency and Grace Heifetz of Curtis Brown Australia are launching a new agency based in London called Left Bank Literary starting July 1.
Distribution
Arthur A. Levine’s start-up Levine Querido, will be distributed in North American and “select export territories” by Chronicle Books (which is in turn distributed by Hachette Book Group) starting with their launch season in fall 2020. Levine says in the announcement, “From the very start, Chronicle was our ideal distribution partner. I have long been an admirer of the excellence and creativity they bring to every endeavor of the publishing process, from the production of their books, to their immense reach and reputation across national, institutional, and special markets, to their overarching commitment to ‘seeing things differently’. I could not imagine a better team to help us put Levine Querido titles into the hands of young readers everywhere.”