The Romance Writers of America cancelled their upcoming awards, the 2020 RITAs, in response to the recent ethics controversy that resulted in the resignation of nine board members. RWA wrote in a statement, “Due to recent events in RWA, many in the romance community have lost faith in RWA’s ability to administer the 2020 RITA contest fairly, causing numerous judges and entrants to cancel their participation. The contest will not reflect the breadth and diversity of 2019 romance novels/novellas and thus will not be able to fulfill its purpose of recognizing excellence in the genre.” RWA plans to resume the […]
Archives for January 2020
People, Etc.
Tina Bennett has left William Morris Endeavor to form a new agency, Bennett Literary, in collaboration with ICM Partners, which will provide subrights, business affairs, and contract management services to the new venture. Min Lee will join Hachette Book Group on March 2 as senior vice president and general counsel, reporting to Michael Pietsch and joining HBG’s executive management board. Lee was previously was senior vice president, associate general counsel and global head of compliance Penguin Random House. She succeeds Carol Ross, who will retire from HBG in June. Meghan Houser will join Flatiron Books as senior editor on January 13. […]
Briefs: Bookselling News, and More on the RWA Controversy
Bookselling The Barnes & Noble in Coral Springs, FL that was negotiating with the landlord for a smaller space will close temporarily at the end of February. The store is expected to reopen within six months, occupying about half of the current 27,000 square feet. The words! bookstore in Asbury Park, NJ is transitioning to a community-owned cooperative (sort of; participants get a vote, but no profit share), called the Asbury Book Cooperative. They are selling memberships for $25 to $200 annually and looking for larger donors, hoping to raise $100,000 in all. In Pennsylvania, Cupboard Maker Books‘ temporary holiday […]
People, Etc.
Millicent Bennett has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as editorial director, reporting to Bruce Nichols. She was previously executive editor at Grand Central, and has worked at Simon & Schuster, Random House, Ecco, and Knopf. Sarah Pelz has joined HMH as executive editor, reporting to Deb Brody, with a focus on acquiring lifestyle nonfiction. She was previously executive editor at Atria. Noa Wheeler has joined Bloomsbury Children’s as executive editor, responsible for the Sarah J. Maas publishing program. She will continue her freelance editorial work for authors and publishers in addition to her role at Bloomsbury. Alexa Higbee will join as […]
More January Picks
Good Morning America chose Liz Moore’s Long Bright River as their January Book Club pick. Apple Books announced their Best of January, which also includes the Moore, plus Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age, Jeanine Cummins’ American Dirt, Emma Copley Eisenberg’s The Third Rainbow Girl, and Eoin Colfer’s Highfire, all of which were excerpted months ago in our Buzz Book 2019 Fall/Winter and can still be sampled ahead of publication. The rest of the list features: The Wild One, by Nick Petrie Into the Fire, by Gregg Hurwitz Love Her or Lose Her, by Tessa Bailey Little Gods, by Meng Jin […]
People: Kachka to Become LA Times Books Editor, and More
New York magazine and Vulture writer and books editor Boris Kachka is leaving his position to become books editor at the Los Angeles Times. The LAT said in an announcement, “We’re pleased to announce that Boris Kachka is joining The Times as books editor. Boris comes to us from New York magazine, where has been books editor for the last few years, and a writer and editor for two decades…In recent years he has substantially expanded the magazine’s book coverage across all of its verticals, overseeing excerpts, stories on new authors and titles, publishing news, and more.” Julia Turner, deputy […]