Chuck Deane has joined Sourcebooks as sales director. He was most recently vice president of sales (Americas) at Wiley.
At Rebel Girls, Pam Gruber joins as editorial director. She was previously senior editor at Little, Brown Children’s. Grace House joins as project and contracts manager (she was assistant editor at Berkley), and Karen Chau has been promoted to licensing and partnerships associate.
At HMH Children’s, Abigail Stahlman has joined as senior marketing designer; previously she was senior designer at Scholastic. Nadia Almahdi has joined as marketing manager; previously she was marketing manager at Little Bee Books.
Kaitlyn Spotts has joined Chronicle Books as associate marketing manager, school and library. Previously she was library and trade sales marketing coordinator at Hachette Book Group.
Ishantha Lokugé joins Pearson as svp, chief product officer, reporting to Tim Bozik, president of global product. Satish Menon joins as svp, chief technology officer, product platforms, reporting to Albert Hitchcock, coo and cto. Both were previously with Shutterfly.
Tom Killingbeck will move to Viking UK on October 28 as editorial director. He is currently editorial director at William Collins. Former Viking UK editorial director Jack Ramm is stepping down to launch an editorial services company.
Picks
The PBS NewsHour-New York Times Now Read This pick for September is Sally Rooney‘s Conversations With Friends. Separately, the NYT lists 17 books to watch for in September.
Awards
Analog Science Fiction and Fact announced that it will rename the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, begun in 1973, as the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. The organization writes: “Campbell’s provocative editorials and opinions on race, slavery, and other matters often reflected positions that went beyond just the mores of his time and are today at odds with modern values, including those held by the award’s many nominees, winners, and supporters.” Indeed, the move comes following criticism from this year’s winner, Jeannette Ng.
Bookselling
McNally Jackson‘s new Seaport location at 4 Fulton Street soft-opened on Wednesday.
Acquisitions
Arcadia Publishing has acquired Wildsam, publisher of Wildsam Field Guides. Wildsam has a catalog of 14 field guides and is “actively building out its editorial team and ramping up the number of titles to be published in 2020 and beyond.” The company says its guides have sold approximately 140,000 copies since 2012.
David Steinberger, president and chief executive officer of Arcadia said in the release, “The moment we picked up our first Wildsam Field Guide, we were sold. This is a product that is fundamentally authentic – it is exactly what today’s travelers and readers are looking for.”