In the fall of 2013 the late Ted Geisel’s widow Audrey and the author’s longtime secretary and friend Claudia Prescott rediscovered an original unpublished manuscript and sketches — along with other materials — first found shortly after Ted’s death in 1991, while cleaning his office space. Random House Children’s will publish the rediscovered WHAT PET SHOULD I GET? on July 28. And the publisher says in their announcement that “at least two more books will be published from the materials discovered, with titles and publication dates to be announced.” Called “nearly complete” as found, believed to be written “somewhere between 1958 and 1962,” the […]
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People, Etc.
Director of order management at Simon & Schuster Francine Leinheiser will retire on February 27 after more than 38 years with the company, and 12 years in her current position. In a statement, vp, distribution & fulfillment Dave Schaeffer praised Leinheiser as “a true Simon & Schuster lifer,” adding: “We will remember her as an organizer, a communicator, a cheerful presence and a true professional who played a major role in our success in bringing thousands of titles to our accounts on time. Now she will have some time to read many of the books that she, like many of […]
Cynthia Bond’s RUBY is Latest Oprah Pick; Krakauer’s MISSOULA to Publish April 21
Oprah’s revived Book Club, which now only picks books about once a year, has selected Cynthia Bond’s debut novel RUBY as its latest choice. (Its previous selection, in early 2014, was THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd.) The novel was published in hardcover last April by Hogarth to a modest reception. Those who reviewed it praised the book but it was overlooked by all of the major outlets, with hardcover sales as recorded by Nielsen Bookscan under 3,000. The publisher has announced a first paperback printing of 250,000 copies (with the Oprah book club logo) and a special digital […]
Still More On Harper Lee’s GO SET A WATCHMAN
Over the weekend pieces from the NYT, WSJ, and the AP filled in some blanks about the discovery of Harper Lee’s GO SET A WATCHMAN and how cognizant Lee is about the novel’s forthcoming publication on July 14. Though the Harper Collins press release from last week said the manuscript was discovered last fall, Lee’s lawyer Tonja Carter tells the NYT via emails and texts that she found the work “in late summer.” When Carter visited Lee and asked her about the manuscript and if it was finished: “She said: ‘Complete? I guess so. It was the parent of MOCKINGBIRD.” Separately, the WSJ reports that foreign rights […]
People
Robyn DesHotel joins the ABA on March 2 as chief financial officer, replacing Eleanor Chang, who is retiring. DesHotel has been at PEN American Center, as director of finance and administration since 2010. At the University of California Press, Clare Wellnitz has been promoted to director of sales & licensing, continuing to oversee rights, licensing, and contracts in addition to providing strategic oversight and direction for sales operations. At Graywolf Press, Leslie Johnson has been promoted to managing director, while Erin Kottke adds the role of marketing director to her existing duties as publicity director. Megan Beatie has left Goldberg McDuffie Communications, where she was […]
People: On George Nicholson, and More
Sterling Lord Literistic agent George Nicholson, 77, died on Tuesday. Before joining SLL in 1995, he founded Delacorte Press and Yearling Books, and was publisher of Books for Children at The Viking Press. At Hachette Book Group, recently-appointed svp group sales director Chris Murphy announced a reorganization of the sales group to “better align individuals to make the very most of their skills, and position us as a strong, well-rounded sales team.” Dave Epstein moves up to vp, retail sales, and will hire an executive director of children’s sales to fill his former position. Linda Jamison is promoted to executive director of mass merchant sales, reporting to […]