Theresa Park and Celeste Fine have joined together to form a new literary agency, Park & Fine Literary and Media, combining the existing Park Literary & Media with Fine’s roster of clients and a number of her colleagues from Sterling Lord. They will jointly run the agency as co-founders and partners. Coming over with Fine, who was vice president at Sterling Lord and worked there for seven years, are John Maas (who is executive director, editorial development and strategy), Sarah Passick (as executive director, new business and relationships), and agents Jaidree Braddix and Anna Petkovich.
Anna Michels has been promoted to editorial director, Sourcebooks and Poisoned Pen Press.
Jordan Rodman has joined Avid Reader Press as deputy director of publicity. She was most recently a freelance publicist for Dave Eggers and Nathan Englander.
At Random House Children’s, Elena Meuse and Sydney Tillman have each been promoted to associate publicist.
In France, Laurent Laffont, general manager of Hachette Livre’s JC Lattes has left to “pursue other interests.” Véronique Cardi will join as ceo starting January 28. Cardi moves over from Livre de Poche, where she has served as general manager since 2014, and will continue to run both imprints during the transition.
Obituary
Publisher of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, and its Literatura Random House imprint, Claudio López Lamadrid, 58, died Friday, suffering a sudden, massive stroke while at work in his office in Barcelona. Penguin Random House said in part in a statement, “His title doesn’t begin to do justice to his impact on the importance and success of our Spanish-language publishing program, or the esteem in which he was held as an editor and publisher in Spain and internationally.” In a memo to staff, PRHGE ceo Nuria Cabuti wrote, “Claudio’s death leaves a huge void in our lives…he invariably had a kind word to say and a friendly smile to share, and he always displayed remarkable levels of complicity, sagacity and empathy. I know that all of you who had the chance to work with him came to revere him.” (Cabuti also called him “one of the most important editors of our time.”)
Grupo Editorial created a memorial ad that quotes Lamadrid: “Editing texts, working with their authors or with their translations, and doing so anonymously, without leaving any trace of their authorship. This is fascinating because it strikes at the very essence of our job: the editor works for the author and not the other way around.”
Forthcoming
Thomas Nelson will publish Magnolia Table author Joanna Gaines‘ children’s book We Are the Gardeners, on March 26. Illustrated by Julianna Swaney, the book is the story of “Gaines’ family and their adventures cultivating a garden of their very own.”