More than two months after National Amusements, which owns 80 percent of the stock in both CBS (parent company of Simon & Schuster) and Viacom, urged the two companies to consider a merger, that potential deal has now been withdrawn. CNBC reported that Shari Redstone, vice chair for both companies, “is reversing course and now backs Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and his plan to bring the company back to prominence.” The WSJ added that CBS head Leslie Moonves “never appeared to be more than lukewarm on the idea and repeatedly told investors that CBS was a strong stand-alone company”, adding […]
People: Reidhead Named New Norton President; Raab, Futter Leave Grand Central
Julia Reidhead has been promoted to president at W.W. Norton, succeeding Drake McFeely, who will remain at the company as chairman. Reidhead, who first joined Norton in 1983 and is currently vp, publishing director of the College department, is Norton’s sixth and first female president in the company’s 93-year history. She will also become president and director of the National Book Company, Norton’s distribution center in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and of Liveright Publishing. McFeely said in the announcement: “Julia Reidhead, who has made her entire publishing career here at Norton, embodies all the values we hold dear: an abiding love of […]
Delaney Tops January Library Reads List
J.P. Delaney’s suspense thriller The Girl Before tops the January 2017 Library Reads list. Books on this list that also appear on the January Indie Next list include: The Second Mrs. Hockaday, by Susan Rivers The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden The Dry, by Jane Harper Books for Living, by Will Schwalbe The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, by Lindsey Lee Johnson Her Every Fear, by Peter Swanson The rest of the list features: Behind Her Eyes, by Sarah Pinborough The Fifth Petal, by Brunonia Barry Heartstone, by Elle Katharine White In Best of 2016 lists, you can […]
People
Derek Stordahl joins Holiday House in the newly created position of evp, general manager, reporting to Stephen Kent. Stordahl was most recently executive vice president at Bloomsbury USA, where he was responsible for business growth across their entire portfolio. At Clarkson Potter, Ashley Meyer and Amanda Englander have both been promoted to senior editor. Caitlin Kleinschmidt has joined Workman as associate manager of national accounts, reporting to James Wehrle. Previously she was associate marketing manager at Viking and Riverhead. Lia Ottaviano has joined Diversion Books as editor. Previously she was an associate editor at Wiley. At Random House Children’s, Lauren […]
People, Etc.
Danielle Smith has left Red Fox Literary after three years to launch her own literary agency, Lupine Grove Creative, with most of her clients set to follow her to the new agency. Playwright Kia Corthron has won the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize for her debut novel The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter (Seven Stories Press). Green Apple Books music buyer and DJ Johnny Igaz, 34, who had been missing in the Oakland warehouse fire, was confirmed by the Coroner on Tuesday as among the identified victims. Forthcoming Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian will write a memoir of his […]
People, Bookselling, Etc.
Adriana Stimola has joined the Stimola Literary Studio as agent, representing cookbooks, lifestyle, and health and wellness books. She was formerly content manager at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. Chris Francis has joined Sourcebooks as assistant editor. Elizabeth Scarpelli has been hired as director of the new University of Cincinnati Press, which aims to be “an innovative 21st century academic press.” She was director of publisher services at Baker & Taylor and Bookmasters, prior to which she was assistant press director and sales and marketing director for Rutgers University Press. At Ingram Publisher Services, Bonnie Dailey joins the company based […]