Quarto COO Ken Fund will retire from the company on December 1, and will leave the board at the same time. He joined Quarto in 1999, originally as president and CEO of Rockport Publishers, before running the company’s US division for many years. He says in the announcement, “Being a part of Quarto for the past 22 years has been a wild adventure that I have enjoyed completely. This is the right time to retire as Quarto is in good hands and has a strong future.”
Dominique Cimina has been promoted to svp, publicity, corporate communications, and author brand strategy at Random House Children’s.
Talia Benamy has been promoted to editor at Philomel.
Shina Patel has been promoted to assistant marketing manager at Penguin Press.
At Penguin Random House Audio, Brisa Robinson has joined as senior publicity manager, working on Penguin Publishing Group titles. She was previously at WNYC and Macmillan Audio. Lizbeth Gutierrez has joined as senior publicist, working on Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group titles. She previously worked in PR at Crunchyroll.
Allyson Floridia has been promoted to managing editor at Macmillan Children’s.
At Aevitas Creative Management, Sarah Bowlin, David Granger, Sarah Levitt, and Penny Moore have become senior agents.
At Headline, Sherise Hobbs has been promoted to publisher, and Katie Sunley has been promoted to assistant editor.
Events
Barack Obama will close the ALA Annual Conference, with a discussion on June 29 at 1 pm Central with Lonnie G. Bunch III, the 14th secretary of the Smithsonian and first African American appointed to the role.
Awards
At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, translated from French by Anna Moschovakis, won the International Booker Prize. Diop was raised in Senegal and now lives in France.
Forthcoming
Wonder author R. J. Palacio‘s new novel PONY, “a harrowing yet distinctly beautiful journey through the vast American landscape,” will be published by Knopf Children’s on September 28, in a reported first printing of 500,000 copies.
Because certain elements of our society require a bogeyman, news of the slender, forthcoming November 2 publication Expect the Unexpected: Ten Lessons on Truth, Service, and the Way Forward by Dr. Anthony Fauci set off a media firestorm. This may have accidentally been our fault, since our mention of the book in our May 17 season preview looks to have been the first media reference to the title, now mistakenly interpreted as the book having been “announced” that day. (That’s not the case, since our preview was prepared much earlier.)
Publisher National Geographic Books had the most obvious listings removed from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, oddly claiming that “the book was prematurely posted for pre-sale,” while other listings — whether the Google Books one linked above, or the longstanding Edelweiss catalog entry, remain live. The biggest mistake is that the publisher was not clear about the 80-page book’s context: As they have now stated, “The book was developed by National Geographic Books in connection with an upcoming National Geographic Documentary Film about Dr. Fauci. He will not earn any royalties from its publication.”
Grants
Amazon Literary Partnership has given $1 million in 2021 grant funding to 80 nonprofit literary organizations in the U.S. that are “working to empower diverse, marginalized, and underrepresented voices.” Recipients include Lambda Literary, Kundiman, Hurston/Wright Foundation, Asian American Writers Workshop, and The Africa Center. Additionally, they have granted $140,000 each to the Academy of American Poets and the Community of Literary Presses and Magazines.
The Academy of American Poets announced 23 state poet laureates, each of whom will receive $50,000. As part of the program, 14 local non-profits will also receive $100,000.