Carolyn Savarese has joined Kneerim & Williams as an affiliated agent. She was group vice president for global licensing, international sales and marketing, contracts and legal affairs for Perseus Books Group, where she worked for 18 years. She will look for “authors of influence and books that matter — on subjects personal or political, historical or scientific, cultural or culinary.” Christopher Goff, senior vice president and general counsel for HarperCollins will retire on September 30 after 28 years with the company. Bill Adams, currently senior vice president and associate general counsel at Penguin Random House, will succeed him as general counsel worldwide. The general […]
People, Etc.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, editorial director, lifestyle Deb Brody has been promoted to vp, editor-in-chief. (She joined the company a little under a year ago.) In her new role she “will expand her oversight and editorial work across the lifestyle and general interest teams,” adding oversight for Alex Littlefield and a to-be-hired senior editor. Publisher Bruce Nichols notes that the lifestyle group has broadened its program and “there has been increasing overlap with general interest nonfiction,” so “the two groups will work together more closely.” Helen Atsma remains in charge of the fiction program as editorial director, fiction, and senior team members Rick […]
People, Etc.
Germany’s S. Fischer has hired Siv Bublitz as publishing director, effective September 18, taking over from Peter Sillem, who is leaving S. Fischer on June 30. Bublitz was previously chief executive at Ullstein. Reporting to S. Fischer president and publisher Jörg Bong, she will join the board of Holtzbrinck Publishers Germany. As managing director for program and strategy, Bublitz will be responsible for publishing divisions S. Fischer, Fischer Scherz, Fischer Krüger, Fischer FJB, Fischer Tor and Fischer Taschenbuch. Dr. Bong says in the announcement, “Siv Bublitz has the highest reputation on the international book market as well as many years of […]
Briefs: Bookselling and More
Bookselling A couple of weeks ago Book Expo announced a preliminary count of 7,425 attendees at the mots recent, saying the group was “comprised primarily of booksellers, librarians, retailers and media.” But a new infographic from the show provides a more precise count of 1,289 booksellers & retailers, and 1,597 librarians in attendance. We asked about the composition of the remaining 4,414 attendees tabulated, which included 860 press registrants, and who came from “various categories including Distributors, Educators, Film & TV Professionals, Licensing Professionals, Literary Agents and Wholesalers among others.” The show spokesperson says they will provide further details once the […]
Corporate: Baldini & Castoldi Sold, New Library Digital Content Apps, and More
In Italy, former head of Bompiani Elisabetta Sgarbi’s publishing company The Ship of Theseus, which launched in early 2016, has acquired the renewed version of Baldini & Castoldi. (They bought 95 percent; Filippo Vannuccini retains a 5 percent share.) The publisher says the purchase and recapitalization of Baldini & Castoldi was down “just with [its] own resources” and “without any bank loans.” The Ship of Theseus was started with what Sgarbi said was “five to six million” euros of investment, some of which came from authors, including the late Umberto Eco. Michele Dalai leaves Baldini & Castoldi following the sale. Sgarbi, who serves as president of Baldini […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Keith Wallman has joined Diversion Books as senior editor. He was most recently senior editor at Lyons Press. At Crown Publishing Group, Liz Wetzel has been promoted to publicity manager for Crown, Hogarth, Tim Duggan Books, and Broadway Books. Maya Lane moves up to associate publicist for Crown Archetype, Three Rivers Press, and Harmony. Director of English PEN Jo Glanville will step down as in July, moving on to an honorary visiting fellowship at the Giessen University in Germany. Author Alix Ohlin will become chair of the University of British Columbia’s creative writing program as of January 1, 2018. She has been […]