At Andrews McMeel, Patty Rice has been promoted to executive editor; Julie Phillips to executive design director; Ben Accardi to senior editor for calendars; and Melissa Rhodes to associate editor. Lucas Wetzel moves over to the book group as editor, from AMU’s syndication division. Ashleigh Gardner has been promoted to deputy general manager for Wattpad Studios, publishing. Carrie Pestritto has joined Laura Dail Literary Agency as an agent. Previously she was an agent at Prospect Agency. At Portfolio/Sentinel, Merry Sun has been promoted to associate editor, Vivian Roberson has been promoted to assistant editor, and Katherine Valentino has been promoted to […]
Authors
Dashner Says He’ll Seek Counseling; Random House Says It Will Not Publish His Future Books
Thursday afternoon, author James Dashner posted a message on Twitter reflecting on accusations made against him of sexual harassment, apologizing and saying, “I am taking any and all criticism and accusations very seriously, and I will seek counseling and guidance to address them.” Later in the day, after ignoring queries during the week, three separate Penguin Random House divisions said together they would “not be publishing any future books by Dashner,” including THE WAKING, his first planned novel for adults, which Ballantine announced acquiring last September. (PRH’s Delacorte has published Dashner’s books for young readers.) Thereafter, his UK children’s publisher […]
Asher Admits Sex, Denies Harassment
Author Jay Asher responded further to remarks from SCBWI executive director Lin Oliver on Wednesday through a statement provided by Tammy Taylor at Sitrick and Company, a strategic communications firm whose specialties include reputation and crisis management. In the statement, Asher admits to having had relationships with “many” women connected in some way to the SCBWI, noting “Asher was married at the time of these relationships, as were many of the women.” Taylor says that seven anonymous women had sent a letter to SCBWI in April 2017 about Asher. “He is deeply sorry for the pain these consensual decisions caused his […]
Asher Says He Left SCBWI On His Own, and Feels “Harassed” Himself
After Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators executive director Lin Oliver acknowledged (per our report yesterday) that Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why, had been expelled from the SCBWI last year in the wake of sexual harassment allegations, Asher denied that account to BuzzFeed News. “I love the organization, but they didn’t decide to push me out. It was my decision,” Asher said. He reports that Oliver “said the email [reporting allegations against him] contained nothing that their organization should have anything to do with.” But Oliver has said in written statements that “both Jay Asher and David Diaz […]
People, Etc.
Eric Henney will join Basic Books as editor, starting February 20. Most recently he was commissioning editor at Princeton University Press. Pronoy Sarkar has been promoted to associate editor at Picador. Among the St. Martin’s promotions announced yesterday, we overlooked that Anne Marie Tallberg moved up to vp, publishing director of St. Martin’s Paperbacks and Griffin, reporting to Jen Enderlin. At Bonnier’s Igloo Books, Bonnie Hunter has been hired as joint vp for the US business, running that unit along with Jeremy Nurnberg, who is promoted to joint vp. Hunter was director of sales at Parragon Books in the US. Additionally, Darren Witherall […]
People, Etc.
Anke Steinecke has been promoted to chief legal officer of Penguin Random House worldwide, and will continue as executive vice president, general counsel, Penguin Random House US reporting to ceo Markus Dohle in both capacities. Anna Dobben has joined the National Book Foundation as awards and relationships manager. She was previously publicist at Knopf. John Sellers will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on January 29 as publicity director for children’s books. He has been children’s reviews editor at Publishers Weekly since 2009. Sarah Brohman has joined LifeTree Media as editorial director. Previously she worked at Random House Canada and ran a freelance editing, content […]