Wendi Gu has returned to Sanford J. Greenburger Associates as agent; she spent the last two years at Janklow & Nesbit as associate agent. Sarah Phair has joined SJGA as agent after 6 years at Trident Media Group, and Edward Maxwell has been promoted to agent.
Jenny Stephens has been promoted to agent at Sterling Lord Literistic.
Olivia Russo will join Penguin Children’s as senior director, publicity on September 3. She was formerly publicity director, Harper Children’s.
Phoebe Morgan will rejoin Harper UK as editorial director, crime/thriller at Harper Fiction and will also take on the maternity cover for the post of editorial director at Avon. She was most recently with Trapeze.
Interim group publisher for Welbeck Children’s Alexandra Allan will lead that team in a permanent role, and Laura Knowles will join the line as associate publisher on September 2. She is currently group editorial director at Young Quarto.
Kelly Lake has joined Cenveo as global head of corporate learning. Previously, she created learning strategies for companies including World Bank, BNY Mellon Wealth Management, TMP Worldwide, Deloitte, and Bon Secours Health Systems.
Obituaries
Elaine Kendall, 91, longtime book critic for the Los Angeles Times, died on August 3 in Montecito. Kendall worked at the LAT from 1980-1996, also authoring four nonfiction books.
Lee Bennett Hopkins, 81, editor of more than 100 children’s anthologies, died on August 8 in Cape Floral, FL.
Picks
Téa Obreht‘s Inland, publishing today, is Barnes & Noble‘s August 2019 National Book Club selection.
Audio
Tom Hanks will narrate the audiobook of Ann Patchett‘s forthcoming novel The Dutch House, which will be published by Harper on September 24.
Bookselling
The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore is moving to a new location two blocks away with “more than three times the size” of its existing space. The store will own its new space.
Phantasmagoria Books and Records in Tulsa, OK was apparently targeted by white nationalist group Patriot Front, which he says out stickers with hate messages on the store’s front door. Owner Shannon Iwanski, who said the store contains pride flags and sells inclusive literature, filed a police report. He has owned the store for three months, and says this is the second such incident. He stated, “I view the speech that these people have as harmful to not only fellow Americans but to myself and the people who frequent this shop.”
Children’s bookstore Sandcastle Tales opened in Del Mar, CA last month.
Love’s Sweet Arrow opened in mid-June in Tinley Park, IL and says it is the “second romance-only bookstore in the country.”
The Chapters on Whyte bookstore in Edmonton, CA will close by the end of the year after over 20 years in that location.