Vanessa Campos has joined D4EO Literary Agency as an agent. She was previously sales and marketing director of Entrepreneur Press. Mariah Nichols has been promoted to literary agent.
Imprints
In the UK, Hodder & Stoughton has created the Hodder Studio imprint, which “brings together creative minds from a wide range of backgrounds and media industries.” and is “acquiring books with international aspirations, exploring original partnerships and developing new relationships with audiences.” The imprint will include audio, and the first books launch in October 2020 through to 2022.
Jamie Hodder-Williams heads the imprint and Myfanwy Moore is publisher. (Moore was previously a TV producer and controller of comedy at the BBC). Editorial director Harriet Poland was formerly a commissioning editor and business affairs manager at Audible, and editorial director Sara Adams was commissioning editor at Harvill Secker. Izzy Everington and Bea Fitzgerald are assistant editors.
CEO of Hachette UK David Shelley said, “I am very excited about Hodder Studio: the team is dynamic, entrepreneurial and alive to both what new generations of readers want from books, and also to different, innovative means of delivering this to them.”
Legal
There may have been only modest interest in Michael Cohen‘s book manuscript before the Justice department returned him to jail when he would not agree to a gag order for the remainder of his sentence. But now, ordered released back into home custody, he has the quotable opinion of District Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who found that, “The purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail is retaliatory. And it’s retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book and to discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and with others.”
Elton John‘s former wife Renate Blauel sued him in a British court last month over the memoir ME and the movie Rocketman, alleging that some of passages and film depictions “seriously misrepresented the nature of their relationship” and claiming he violated the terms of their divorce.
Awards
Samra Habib‘s WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE is the latest Canada Reads winner.