In the UK, Foyle’s ceo Sam Husain, 67, will retire in April, the Bookseller reports. Former toy retailer Hamley’s coo Paul Currie will take over the leadership for the bookseller, and Husain will stay on as a non-executive director. Also in the UK, Kieron Smith, who had been managing director of bookseller Book Depository before its sale to Amazon, has been hired by Blackwell’s as digital director, starting in February. He fills the slot vacated by Matthew Cashmore. Smith’s recent project, the online Best Little Bookshop, has closed. Hanna Masaryk is joining Greenburger Associates as children’s/YA scout. She was previously an agency assistant at Curtis […]
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People
In Italy, general manager of Mondadori’s trade book division (as well as ceo of Einaudi, interim head of Mondadori publishing and chairman of Harlequin Mondadori) Riccardo Cavallero is leaving the company by the end of January. Last week, Mondadori Libri announced a number of new management appointments: CEO Ernesto Mauri is also chairman of the board; Enrico Selva Codde was promoted to managing director of Mondadori trade, working with vice chairman Gian Ferrari; and Antonio Porro was named managing director for education. Mauri says in the announcement: “The scenario of the publishing market is still declining and this means that we need to increasingly keep our […]
People, Etc.: Franzen Interview to Open BEA
Book Expo America’s opening event will feature author Jonathan Franzen interviewed by Salon book critic Laura Miller, on May 27 at 12 PM (an hour before the show floor opens; this year the trade exhibition runs for two and a half days). This will be Franzen’s first event to discuss his new novel PURITY, which FSG will publish in September. The conversation will include “a discussion of the author’s writing [and] the important influences in his life” as well. Nonfiction publisher at Pan Macmillan Jon Butler is leaving the company at the end of the month to join Quercus as managing director, with current […]
Briefs: Saramago Estate to Wylie; THE HUSBAND’S SECRET in Paperback; and More
Once again, a prominent literary estate has switched representation to The Wylie Agency. The estate of Jose Saramago announced the change as of December 30, 2014, saying “this shift to a larger literary agency emerges as a natural step to ensure greater presence” of Saramago’s work. They briefly thanked Nicole Witt at Literary Agency Mertin, Saramago’s longtime agency (first under the late Ray-Gude Mertin). Witt expressed “great surprise” at the “short email” from the estate notifying her of the change. She writes, in part, “When I said goodbye to José Saramago in Lanzarote in June 2010, shortly before he passed away, I […]
People, Etc.
Nan Vermylen Thornton will join Zachary Shuster Harmsworth as an agent. Previously, she was in-house counsel practicing copyright law at Pearson Education. The January Pennie’s Pick at Costco is BOSTON GIRL by Anita Diamant. More Best of 2014 lists keep coming in as the year draws to a close. Vanity Fair offers “11 Best Books of 2014 You Can Spend 2015 Reading” while the SF Chronicle‘s Top 10 list leads off with current “Best of the Best” fiction frontrunner ALL THE LIGHT YOU CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr. On that theme, the NYT recently featured Anthony Doerr’s long journey to […]
People: Schnittman to Leave HBG
Hachette Book Group evp, chief marketing and sales officer Evan Schnittman is leaving the company as of December 12, after two and a half years at the company. Schnittman’s position, which was created for him, is being eliminated. Instead, Chris Murphy is being promoted to svp, group sales director and will also join the company’s executive board. CEO Michael Pietsch calls Schnittman “a powerful agent of change and [he] has improved HBG’s sales processes and organization greatly. Evan brought the sales group into closer collaboration with our publishing groups than ever before. He combined digital and physical book sales, created the Sales Strategy and […]