At Quirk Books, Brett Cohen has resigned from his position as president and publisher after 20 years with the company. Quirk Books founder and owner David Borgenicht will return to his role as president. Jhanteigh Kupihea has been promoted to publisher and will lead the creative group. Nicole De Jackmo has been promoted to the new role of svp, sales, marketing, and publicity.
Additionally at Quirk, Megan DiPasquale has been promoted to vice president of finance; Andie Reid to art director; Jane Morley to managing editor; Mandy Sampson to senior production and sales manager; and Kelsey Hoffman to senior publicity and marketing manager. Quirk will also be hiring four new staff members. With these organizational changes, Moneka Hewlett has exited her role as vp, director of sales.
At Merriam-Webster, Greg Barlow will rejoin the company as president. Most recently he was managing director at North Equity, and previously he was SVP and chief marketing officer at Merriam-Webster and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Shara Alexander has been promoted to publicity director, lifestyle; Emma Gordon to senior publicist; and Marissa Page to publicist. Kelly Shi has joined as publicity associate.
At Chronicle Books, Courtney Payne has been promoted to director of trade sales at Chronicle Books; Feather Flores to assistant editor, children’s at Chronicle Books; Samantha Chambers to publicity and social media coordinator, children’s; Anna-Lisa Sandstrum to associate director of sales and marketing, school and library; Carrie Gao to marketing coordinator, school and library; and Sofie Bercaw to distribution coordinator.
Brieana Garcia has joined the Harper One Group as senior marketing manager, working on the Amistad, Harper Español, and Harper Via imprints. She was previously at Penguin Random House, where she worked on brand marketing, ad operations, and event planning.
Andrea Miller has joined Abrams Children’s as senior designer. She was previously at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
At Workman Publishing, Neil Hiremath has been promoted to assistant director, digital business operations, and Rina Mody has been promoted to manager, digital operations & analytics.
Tess Weitzner has been promoted to associate agent at Trident Media Group.
Imprints
Marie-Pierre Gracedieu left her role at Gallimard to launch Le Bruit du Monde with business partner Adrien Servières. The new publisher will be “focused on world literature and based in Marseille,” with “the support of” Vivendi and Editis chair Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Editis ceo Michèle Benbunan, and Editis chief administrative officer and head of literature Jean Spiri. The publisher will release 20 titles a year and plans to add four employees. “Le Bruit du monde will reveal outstanding fiction that transforms our vision on historical and present realities,” they said in the release. “We won’t shy away from modern issues, while searching for unforgettable narratives and betting on the pleasure reading can bring. Le Bruit du monde will aim at enriching our fantasy, our empathy, and broadening our horizon.”
Audio
RBmedia has launched a new Spanish-language audio brand, BookaVivo, which will host its Booka audiobook publishing business and all future Spanish-language titles produced by the company. Roseann Lake has joined BookaVivo as Spanish content publisher. She was previously a journalist, reporting in Beijing and then as Cuba correspondent for The Economist.
Dreamscape Media and Turner Publishing Company announced an exclusive multi-year audio agreement that includes production and distribution of Turner Publishing’s audiobook titles and audio rights to titles from Turner imprint Keylight Books. Dreamscape’s audiobook adaptations of Turner titles will be available starting this month.
Awards
The New-York Historical Society’s $50,000 Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize in American History will go to The Year of Peril: America in 1942 by Tracy Campbell.