Joerg Pfuhl will join Holtzbrinck on September 1 as chief executive officer of their German trade publishing group, reporting to John Sargent. Previously Pfuhl was ceo of Verlagsgruppe Random House from 2002 to 2011, and more recently was a professor at the University of Applied Management and held board positions with Edel AG and the Franz Cornelsen Foundation. Sargent said in the announcement: “I have known Joerg since his highly successful tenure as president of Random House in New York, and watched with admiration as he transformed Random House in Germany. He has remarkable skills as a publishing executive, combined with great intellect and strength of character. He will manage our publishing houses in the Holtzbrinck tradition of editorial independence. I am delighted to welcome Joerg to our group.”
Pfuhl adds, “My great enthusiasm for publishing is unchanged. In the last four years I have broadened my experience as an educator and a consultant, but now I look forward to returning to an active role at Holtzbrinck. I have always watched the Holtzbrinck houses with admiration and respect, and am delighted to have the chance to work with some of the best publishers and the most talented professionals in the business.”
Random House Children’s Books announced a number of promotions. Lauren Morgan has been promoted to subsidiary rights coordinator, while Alison Impey moves up to senior art director. Ray Shappel is promoted to senior designer; Jason Zamatjuk moves up to art director; and Catherine Mucciardi is promoted to assistant art director.
At Little, Brown Children’s, Marcie Lawrence has been promoted to senior designer.
Emily Hutton has joined Simon & Schuster as children’s sales manager. as our new Children’s Sales Manager. She was a national accounts manager at Macmillan Children’s.
Seth Ditchik will join Yale University Press as editorial director on June 6. Previously he held the dual role of group publisher for social sciences and executive editor for economics and finance at Princeton University Press.
Awards
The Booker International Prize has been awarded to The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Hogarth/Portobello), with the £50,000 prize shared equally between Kang and translator Deborah Smith.
Monday night J.K. Rowling appeared at the PEN Gala in New York City, to receive the 2016 PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award. The WSJ has the full text of her speech.