Kendra Harpster has joined Kevin Anderson & Associates as executive editor, where she will specialize in fiction and memoir titles. She was an executive editor at Penguin Random House.
Dana Grimaldi has been promoted to editor at Harlequin, acquiring for Harlequin Heartwarming and the Worldwide Mystery and Suspense program.
Carly Kellerman has been promoted to associate publisher at Zondervan.
Longtime Amazon executive Jeff Blackburn will return to the company on June 7 the new position of svp of global media & entertainment. All of the company’s entertainment business — including Audible, along with Prime Video, Amazon Studios, Music, Podcasts/Wondery, Games, and Twitch — will be consolidated under Blackburn. Don Katz at Audible and other unit executives will report to Blackburn. He spent a brief period at Bessemer Venture Partners after working at Amazon since 1998.
Awards
Raven Leilani‘s Luster won the Dylan Thomas Prize.
Bookselling
The Dial Bookshop in Chicago is changing owners, with Javier Ramirez and Kristin Enola Gilbert taking over next week. The store will renamed Exile in Bookville after Ramirez and Gilbert’s online store.
Film/TV
Albert Whitman & Company is launching Albert Whitman Media, which will develop and produce original content based on the publisher’s titles for distribution across all media platforms. Attila Gazdag will serve as president. He previously worked in global operations and business development positions for Disney, the NBA, Warner Bros, and more. “We are extremely pleased to establish Albert Whitman Media and expand our expansive catalogue of the world’s most beloved children’s properties into all forms of media production and distribution,” said John Quattrocchi, president and co-owner of Albert Whitman & Company.