Anke Steinecke has been promoted to chief legal officer of Penguin Random House worldwide, and will continue as executive vice president, general counsel, Penguin Random House US reporting to ceo Markus Dohle in both capacities.
Anna Dobben has joined the National Book Foundation as awards and relationships manager. She was previously publicist at Knopf.
John Sellers will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on January 29 as publicity director for children’s books. He has been children’s reviews editor at Publishers Weekly since 2009.
Sarah Brohman has joined LifeTree Media as editorial director. Previously she worked at Random House Canada and ran a freelance editing, content development, and publishing consultation business.
At Canongate, communication director Jenny Fry and publishing director Francis Bickmore have both joined the board.
Peter Mayle, 78, author of A Year in Provence, died on Thursday at a hospital near his home in Southern France. Mayle’s other books include a series of crime novels, A Good Year, and his most recent book, The Diamond Caper, released in 2015.
Awards
Janesville by Amy Goldstein won the 800-CEO-READ Business Book of the Year award.
The Edgar Awards announced their 2018 nominees. Best Novel nominees include The Dime by Kathleen Kent (Little, Brown/Mulholland Books), Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr (G.P. Putnam’s Sons), Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke (Little, Brown/Mulholland Books), A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee (Pegasus Books), The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti (The Dial Press). The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on April 26.
Bookselling
Word Bookstore in Brooklyn will not move forward with plans for its new kids location. In an email to customers they cited, “permit and construction delays lasting well over a year,” adding,”we are unbelievably disappointed.” Owners plan to renovate the original location to focus “more strongly on kids and families” with added room for kids displays and changes to upstairs and downstairs spaces.