Elizabeth Mendez Berry has joined One World as vice president and executive editor. She was previously with the Nathan Cummings Foundation, where she was the director of their arts and media portfolio.
Gabriella Doob has been promoted to editor at Ecco.
Lauren Diethelm has joined Random House Children’s as production associate. She was previously production assistant at professional sports publications.
Bebe Barrow has joined Chronicle Books as sales operations coordinator.
Lizz Skelly will join Bonnier Books UK as head of publicity for children’s books on February 17 (she is currently at PRH UK), and Emma Quick joins the company today as senior marketing executive for children’s (she was at Macmillan UK Children’s).
Struggling Barnes & Noble Education has dismissed senior executive Barry Brover to save money (“better align its cost structure with current business trends”) and consolidate his responsibilities under other personnel. He has been evp, operations at Barnes & Noble Education and evp at Barnes & Noble College, and will leave at the end of the fiscal year in April.
Jonathan Shar has been promoted to evp, retail and client solutions, effective immediately, with overall responsibility for the growth and profitability of the retail segment, and Lisa Malat has been made president of Barnes & Noble College. Both continue to report to ceo Michael Huseby.
Bookselling
Barnes & Noble still has not resolved their issues with the landlord for their store in Coral Springs, FL — so the store will close on February 15, while discussions continue to see whether or not they will reopen in the shopping center later this year in a smaller space.
Awards
The Paris Review won the National Magazine Award for Fiction, recognizing their publication of stories by Kimberly King Parsons, by Jonathan Escoffery, by Leigh Newman.
Diversity
The AP has a feature story on “missteps lead publishing industry to review diversity effort.” Big publisher ceos “say longtime barriers to diversity in publishing include the self-reinforcing networks of a historically white, upper-class industry, and the stress of being the only non-white member in a room. The industry’s low salaries, often from $36,000-$40,000 in one of the world’s most expensive cities, can also make it hard to retain good people.”
Broadly, “Several publishing executives agreed on a rough outline of industry demographics: Entry level positions, notably in publicity and marketing, are the most diverse, while high-level editorial jobs are more white; employees under 40 are more diverse than those over 40; those who work in children’s publishing are more diverse than those in adult books divisions.”
Following the Diverse Editions gaffe, Penguin Random House US ceo Madeline McIntosh says, “These recent events underscore the critical importance of the work we have to continue to do together.” She wrote to staff earlier this week, “The board and I remain unwavering in our commitment to creating a more inclusive culture at our company, to elevating the diverse books and voices we publish, and to publishing more of them.”