Vice president and publisher of Tor Books Devi Pillai has been named publisher of Tor Teen and Starscape, in addition to her current position.
Jane Harris will join Welbeck Publishing Group as group publisher, children’s books. She is currently managing director, children’s trade at Bonnier Books UK. She succeeds Alexandra Allan who has relocated back to Australia. Executive director Marcus Leaver said in the release, “Mark and I are excited to add Jane’s considerable experience to our accomplished senior management team.”
Awards
Lark by Anthony McGowan (Barrington Stoke) won the UK’s Carnegie Medal, while Tales from the Inner City written and illustrated by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Walker Books) was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration.
Fairs
The German government has extended a general prohibition on large-scale public events through October 31. That ban does not apply to trade fairs, for which the federal states are allowed to make their own decisions. So the Frankfurt Book Fair has emphasized this ruling does not interfere with their previously-announced plans to convene a smaller version of the event this October, just as it ratifies the thinking of the largest trade publishers in announcing that they will not attend.
Controversies
Chicago Review Press says it will not promote He’s Making You Crazy, a book by Vanderpump Rules star Kristin Doute that the publisher released on June 2. Doute was fired from the show on June 9, when Black castmate Faith Stowers revealed on an Instagram live chat that Doute and another castmate called the police on her in 2018. The publisher wrote in an Instagram post, “Chicago Review Press prides itself on publishing books that promote social justice and equality…Therefore, we will no longer promote ‘He’s Making You Crazy,’ and we’ve canceled all remaining virtual or in-person events.”
Doute’s representative Steve Honig said in a statement, “Kristen fully understands the publisher’s position and is focused on doing the work she needs to do in order to make all this right and be a part of the solution.”
Separately, an online petition asks the University of Pennsylvania to cancel its plans to have Carlin Romano teach at the school this fall: “His views on race and responsibility are severely damaging to the young people he might encounter, particularly black students and other students of color.”
Bookselling
University Press Books in Berkeley, CA has closed after 46 years in business, and Run for Cover Bookstore in Ocean Beach, CA is closing July 1.