People, Etc. - Publishers Lunch

Karen Murgolo will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as editorial director, lifestyle on May 26. She was most recently an agent at Aevitas Creative Management, after serving as editorial director of Grand Central Life & Style since its inception. Murgolo will oversee the HMH lifestyle and culinary editorial team.

At Macmillan Children’s, Hayley Jozwiak has been promoted to senior managing editor; Ilana Worrell to senior production editor; Cassie Gonzalez to designer; and Debbie Cobb to senior coordinator.

Marian Wood, former vice president and publisher of Marian Wood Books and Sue Grafton’s longtime editor, died last weekend. She began her career at Holt in the early 1970s, joining Putnam in 1999, where she spent the remainder of her career until her retirement in 2018. The company writes: “A lifelong reader and lover of books of all kinds, Marian was a model of what an editor should be: a discoverer of talent, an astute and sensitive critic, and a ferocious advocate for her authors.”

As expected, ABA members re-elected three board members to new three-year terms: Kenny Brechner at Devaney, Doak and Garrett Booksellers in Farmington, ME; Christine Onorati at WORD in NYC and New Jersey; and Tegan Tigani at Queen Anne Book Company in Seattle, WA.

Acquisitions
Arcadia Publishing has acquired River Road Press, publisher of books about New Orleans and the surrounding region. The River Road Press catalog will merge with Pelican Publishing, acquired by Arcadia in 2019. River Road founder and publisher Scott Campbell will join Arcadia as publisher of Pelican. Arcadia president and ceo David Steinberger said in the release,”I couldn’t be more pleased that this innovative company will join with Pelican, which has such an esteemed legacy of publishing in New Orleans and the surrounding region.”

We checked in with OverDrive, since KKR‘s agreement to acquire the company from Rakuten was originally expected to have closed by the end of January. Spokesperson David Burleigh said the deal remains on track despite the delay and, “We expect the transaction to close very soon.” He declined to explain the hold-up, saying, “We’re just looking forward to the close.”

Layoffs
Cuts across Endeavor’s sprawling hodgepodge of assets will come to the William Morris Endeavor unit on Monday, “after an ungodly swirl of speculative rumors.” So far, the company has said: “WME is reducing its workforce by approximately 20 percent as a result of COVID-19’s impact on our business. We appreciate the contributions of our former colleagues, and out of respect for their privacy, we will not be commenting on the status of specific employees. While we are making these difficult decisions now to safeguard our business, we believe in the resilience of our team and our industry.”