HarperCollins has unceremoniously realigned Ecco and its leadership. Founder of Ecco in 1971 and president and publisher since it joined HarperCollins in 1999 Daniel Halpern “will be transitioning” to editor-at-large “immediately.” Ecco will “be more closely integrated into the Harper Group” with vp and editorial director Helen Atsma overseeing the imprint and reporting to svp and publisher Jonathan Burnham. Halpern will “continue to edit a number of his longstanding authors.” Burnham writes, “Under Dan’s direction, Ecco has grown into one of the most respected imprints in the industry: a byword for literary distinction and editorial integrity.”
At Quarto, Polly Powell was promoted to group chief executive officer as the company’s principal owner C.K. Lau relinquishes that position.
Anthony Key will join Penguin Random House on September 21 as multicultural marketing director. He was multicultural strategy lead at EGAMI Group, responsible for the development and execution of the multicultural communications strategy for P&G, Quaker Oats Company, and the US Army.
Kim Lindman has been promoted to associate agent at Stonesong, representing young adult and adult fiction and narrative nonfiction.
At Canada’s Annick Press, rights and sales director Gayna Theophilus will serve as acquiring editor, too, working to expand its list of creators from underrepresented communities and to develop titles that amplify BIPOC voices.
Obituaries
Publisher and arts patron Ann Getty, 79, died Monday following a heart attack. She bought Grove Press in 1986 for $2 million (and invested $15 million more, the NYT reports). In 1993 Grove merged with the Atlantic Monthly Press, with Getty remaining a shareholder in the company ever since.
Grove/Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin says, “I was saddened and shocked to hear of Ann’s untimely passing. My colleagues and I send our deepest condolences to Gordon and all her family and friends…. Through all the years Ann has been a wonderful, supportive partner and along with Joan Bingham and our other shareholders instrumental in all we have achieved.”
Fantasy author Terry Goodkind, 72, best known for the Sword of Truth series, died on September 17.
Winston Groom, 77, historian and novelist best-known for writing Forrest Gump has died.
Awards
Bryan Washington‘s LOT won the NYPL’s Young Lions Award. His novel MEMORIAL, one of the books featured in our virtual PL Buzz Books editor’s panel earlier this year, publishes October 27.
Bookselling
West Side Rag reports that Book Culture filed an application with the NYC Landmarks Commission to renovate the street-level facade of a currently-vacant space in a building at 55 W 86 Street for a new bookstore. Book Culture’s Columbus Avenue store was seized by City Marshals in early 2020 for non-payment of rent, and the parent company had raised over half a million dollars in community lending funds.