Sharon Shell has joined Independent Publishers Group as director of library & education sales. She was previously director of implementation, sales operations at Scholastic.
Daniel O’Connor has been promoted to senior sales manager at Bloomsbury.
Jacqui Lipton has founded Raven Quill Literary Agency, representing authors of books for children and young adults. Lipton is an attorney and a law professor, and author of Law & Authors: A Legal Handbook for Writers.
For people who want to stop by and pay their respects, there will be a viewing of Sonny Mehta on Friday, January 3, from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel (1076 Madison Avenue at 81st Street).
Author MC Beaton, 83, creator of the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth crime series, died on December 30 after a short illness.
Bookselling
Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, MA will expand into the 4,000 square foot space two doors down. The added space will include a restaurant with a liquor license, in addition to a larger children’s book section, a cookbook section, and more.
Legal
After more than a year of litigation, attorneys for Barnes & Noble and its former CEO Demos Parneros “are now prepared to proceed with a settlement conference,” scheduled for January 27 before Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein.
Parneros’s attorneys are required to made a settlement demand no later than 14 days prior to the conference, and BN’s attorneys will respond in writing at least 7 days prior to the conference. Notably, Judge Gorenstein required that BN “must send to the conference the person responsible for
giving settlement authority within the organization.” Additionally, “if an insurer has any role in approving a settlement, a representative of the insurer with responsibility for authorizing settlement must also attend the conference.”