Malcolm Bouzi has joined Open Road as junior front end developer. Previously he was a web developer at the Araca Group.
Farideh Koohi-Kamali has joined Peter Lang Publishers as senior vice president. She succeeds Christopher Myers, who has left the company after over 25 years as managing director and education editor. Koohi-Kamali spent the past 14 years as editorial director of Palgrave Macmillan’s US academic program.
New Ventures
Hachette Book Group announced it has sold 51 percent of its Yen Press manga imprint to Japanese publisher Kadokawa, creating a joint venture, overseen by publisher and managing director Kurt Hassler. The transaction is expected to be completed by end of April. HBG ceo Michael Pietsch said in the announcement: “This new partnership with Kadokawa is an exciting opportunity for HBG — the venture will further strengthen our Yen Press brand, and allow us to leverage Kadokawa’s superb reputation in both manga and light novel genres, as well as their digital distribution and anime platforms.”
Kadokawa president and representative director Masaki Matsubara added: “Kadokawa considers the North American market as the most important international market for the company alongside the Greater China market and Southeast Asia where we have existing business presence, and are therefore profoundly pleased to have the opportunity to begin a joint venture partnership with a company of HBG’s stature, being a leading publisher in North America.”
In Sweden, Storytellers Agency, 70 percent owned by Bonnier and 30 percent by authors Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril, has been sold to the Salomonsson Agency, who will now represent the Ahndorils – who write together as Lars Kepler – in all territories and in all formats.