Jessica Renheim and Toni Kirkpatrick have joined Crooked Lane Books and Alcove Press as acquisitions editors focusing on crime and book club fiction.
In the Queen’s New Year’s Honors list, literary agent Felicity Bryan was given an MBE for services to publishing, and novelist Rose Tremain was made a Dame.
Sourcebooks has acquired two adult mystery series, a YA trilogy, and a middle grade series from independent press Dunemere Books. They will relaunch them in 2020 and plan new titles for each series.
Feminist writer and author of the 1998 book Life After Birth, Kate Figes, 62, died on December 7 of cancer.
Scottish fiction writer and artist Alasdair Gray, 85, died Sunday after a short illness.
Bookselling
Baltimore’s The Book Thing is closing temporarily as of January 1 after losing its nonprofit status, apparently after failing to file certain paperwork. They are working to get their status reinstated.
The Spirit of ’76 Bookstore in Marblehead, MA closed, after more than 54 years in business.
Best ofs
Among the later best books of 2019 lists, the Atlantic picked their 15 best.
And former president Barack Obama picked 17 of his favorite books from 2019 — along with two sports books, and a reminder list of books he recommended earlier in the year.
Harassment Files
Head of publisher Julliard in France Vanessa Springora writes in a book to be published by Grasset in early January — Le Consentement (Consent) — that as a vulnerable 14-year-old she was pursued by and had a relationship with author Gabriel Matzneff, 51. The Guardian says the book “has already been met with critical acclaim and sent shockwaves through the close-knit world of Paris intellectuals. It has been described as a #MeToo moment for France’s literary circles. She also describes how the French literary world at the time indulged Matzneff in his publicly stated attraction to many different teenagers.”
Minister of Culture Franck Riester wrote on Twitter over the weekend, “The literary aura does not guarantee immunity. I lend my full support to all victims who have had the courage to break the silence.” Riester indicated that Matzneff still receives subsidies from a division of the ministry, given to authors facing financial difficulties due to old age or illness.