Tiffany Liao joins Zando on June 9 as executive editor leading their young readers initiative. She was previously senior editor at Holt Children’s.
Alisse Goldsmith-Wissman has joined Convergent as senior publicist. She was previously at Independent Publishers Group in Chicago.
Caitlin Morrow has joined the Simon & Schuster special markets sales team as assistant manager.
Martha Wydysh has been promoted to literary agent at Trident Media Group.
Adam O’Brien has joined Apollo Publishers as an editor. Previously, he was editor at Sterling Publishing.
Dan Frank, 67, editorial director of Pantheon since 1996, died on May 24 in Manhattan. Knopf evp and publisher Reagan Arthur writes, “For decades, Dan has been the public face of Pantheon, setting the tone for the house and overseeing the list. He had an insatiable curiosity about life and, indeed, that curiosity informed many of his acquisitions. As important as the books he published and the authors he edited, Dan served as a mentor to younger colleagues, endlessly generous with his time and expertise. Famously soft-spoken, a ‘writer’s editor,’ and in possession of a heartfelt laugh that would echo around the thirteenth floor, he was so identified with the imprint that some of his writers took to calling the place Dantheon.” Plans for a service have not yet been announced.
Distribution
Zando will use Two Rivers for global sales and distribution beginning January 2022.
Audio
Levine Querido has an exclusive audiobook partnership with RBmedia, represented by Linda Biagi at Biagi Literary Management in the agreement.
Bookselling
Barnes & Noble will open a new 8,200-square-foot store in Kirkland, WA at the The Village at Totem Lake this Wednesday. CEO James Daunt says, “Barnes & Noble is so pleased to be opening new bookstores again. This new store at Kirkland is an especially beautiful one. [Manager] Dave Rossiter’s team [has] embraced the challenge to create within it a distinctive, energetic bookstore that promises to be truly exceptional.”
Legal
Facing potentially lengthy litigation, attorneys for former Foundry partner Yfat Reiss Gendell asked the court to refer to a mediator the suit brought by the other former Foundry partner Peter McGuigan, along with Gendell’s counterclaims. They “believe it is in the interest of the just and efficient processing of this case for the parties to mediate this case now—before the parties expend substantial resources on a temporary receiver, discovery, and further litigation—to explore a resolution of the remaining issues of contention.” They note that McGuigan “oppose[s] mediation at this stage of the case,” but ask for a court order nonetheless.