Eric Henney will join Basic Books as editor, starting February 20. Most recently he was commissioning editor at Princeton University Press.
Pronoy Sarkar has been promoted to associate editor at Picador.
Among the St. Martin’s promotions announced yesterday, we overlooked that Anne Marie Tallberg moved up to vp, publishing director of St. Martin’s Paperbacks and Griffin, reporting to Jen Enderlin.
At Bonnier’s Igloo Books, Bonnie Hunter has been hired as joint vp for the US business, running that unit along with Jeremy Nurnberg, who is promoted to joint vp. Hunter was director of sales at Parragon Books in the US. Additionally, Darren Witherall has been hired as chief operating officer, based in the UK office. He was most recently as president of EMEA at Parragon Books. (Nurnberg was previously at Parragon, as was Igloo ceo Paul Gregory.)
KF Literary Scouting has been appointed scout for Mondial in Sweden.
Awards
PEN America will present Edmund White with the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction, and Edna O’Brien will receive the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.
The Audio Publishers Association announced nominations for 26 categories of Audie Awards.
Obituary
Retired sales rep Ted Heinecken, 84, died on February 3 from complications of cancer of the duodenum. His firm Heinecken and Associates merged with Fujii Associates in 2008, and Heinecken continued to work there until 2015. Heinecken said when he retired, “I have always held the conviction that being a part of the book trade community is a special calling, requiring a love of the book and a belief in the printed (whether or not on paper) word as a keystone of our culture.”
Seth Godin’s latest book production is a pro bono effort to publish Catherine Hoke‘s A SECOND CHANCE, available February 26, through Amazon only, with a donated first printing of 20,000 copies. Hoke is the founder of Defy Ventures, a nonprofit that has reduced recidivism among former prison inmates from 75 percent to less than 6 percent, by teaching entrepreneurship and character development, and providing mentoring and business support. As Godin writes, “It’s a book about second chances, forgiveness, responsibility, opportunity and love. And it applies to everyone I’ve ever met, not just those that are in prison.” Proceeds benefit Defy Ventures, and the book features a foreword by Sheryl Sandberg. A preview, featuring many additional endorsements, is posted here.