Desiree Wilson has joined the Bent Agency as an agent. Wilson was a freelance literary consultant and previously worked as an editor at Oni Press.
At Aevitas Creative Management, Karen Brailsford joins as consulting agent and Georgia Frances King as agent. Brailsford has been a writer and editor at People, among other publications. King was most recently ideas editor of Quartz.
Morgan LaRocca has been promoted to publicity associate at Graywolf Press.
Picks
Isabel Wilkerson‘s Caste is the new Oprah’s Book Club selection. Winfrey writes, ““Of all the books I’ve chosen for book club over the decades, there isn’t another that is more essential a read than this one. It explains why we are where we are in terms of racial injustice and inequality.”
Fiona Davis’s Lions of Fifth Avenue is the August pick for the Good Morning America Book Club.
Forthcoming
Stephen King will publish his third book with Hard Case Crime, LATER, to be published as a paperback original on March 2, 2021. Editor Charles Ardai says, “Later is a beautiful story about growing up and facing your demons — whether they’re metaphorical or (as sometimes happens when you’re in a Stephen King novel) the real thing.” A limited-edition hardcover will follow.
Bookselling
Washington DC’s Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe will not look to relocate soon as previously announced, and now plans to stay in its currently location in Dupont Circle for at least three more years. Owner Steve Salis told the Washington Post that they received an outpouring of support and will instead proceed with modest “very bootstrap, very scrappy” renovations on a tight budget.
Salis “recently settled” the longtime dispute with his landlord, but “he still plans to eventually move from the location.” For now, the plans include adding “a flower and plant shop in the northern building and a barbershop to fill an upstairs space previously used for private events.” The store will rebrand itself as simply Kramer’s, and the cafe will be called All Day by Kramers. (He told the Washingtonian, “People call it Kramers anyway. We did a whole study on this.”)
Imprints
Former head of books at WH Smith Pete Selby will join Bonnier Books UK later this month as publishing director of a new, yet-to-be-named music imprint, publishing “memoirs, musical social histories and first-person narratives from some of the 21st century’s greatest contemporary writers, musicians and cultural commentators.”
Funding
Serialized fiction app Radish reports having raised over $63 million in Series A funding, led by SoftBank Ventures Asia and Kakao Page Corp. in Korea. The company has added an office in Los Angeles to outposts in Seoul and New York. Growth plans include expanding into LGBTQ, young adult, horror, mystery and thrillers.
Benefits
Further to the announcement in June that the Book Industry Health Insurance Partnership (BIHIP) had partnered with Lighthouse Insurance Group Solutions to provide health insurance options to member organizations in all 50 states, that offering has now officially launched. The Romance Writers of America recently joined the coalition, which now comprises 11 industry associations.