David Hillman has been named evp, general counsel at Simon & Schuster, effective April 23, reporting to Carolyn Reidy. Hillman replaces Elisa Rivlin, who is leaving the company. He will be responsible for all legal affairs for S&S and its worldwide companies, working in close counterparts with his colleagues at CBS. Hillman was most recently chief administrative officer, general counsel, and evp, business affairs at Dial Global. The Orange Prize shortlist was announced, featuring three American authors. The winner will be named May 30: Esi Edugyan, Half Blood Blues Anne Enright, The Forgotten Waltz Georgina Harding, Painter of Silence Madeline […]
Awards
Pulitzers Fail To Award Fiction Prize
For the first time since 1977, the Pulitzer Prize failed to award a prize in fiction. The finalists for the prize were the late David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King, Karen Russell’s Swamplandia!, and Denis Johnson’s novella Train Dreams, selected from 341 titles read; the fiction category judges were NPR book critic Maureen Corrigan, author Michael Cunningham, and former Times-Picayune book editor Susan Larson. Traditionally the judging committee picks the finalists and the board reads those books and decides the winner. Prize administrator Sig Gissler confirmed to us that is the case, adding the board “failed to reach a majority” and […]
People: Barba to Retire from HBG, and More
Hachette Book Group’s evp, sales Chris Barba “has decided to retire after 33 years of distinguished service to this company,” leaving April 20. CEO David Young writes, “She has had a remarkable career here, and under her leadership the HBG sales force has established a reputation as one of the absolute best teams in the business…. She is a great champion of so many books and authors, that it’s impossible to list them all. Her tenacity and expertise have enabled her to serve the company, her customers and her team brilliantly.” No replacement has been named yet. Executive editor at […]
People, Etc.
At Simon & Schuster’s adult trade imprint, Sammy Perlmutter has been promoted to assistant editor, and Rebecca Marsh and Andrea Rogoff move up to associate publicists. Kathleen Calhoun Nettleton has been promoted to president and publisher of Pelican Publishing, effective immediately. First joining the company in 1983, Nettleton served as promotion director from 1985 until her promotion in 2008 to assistant to the publisher, her late father Milburn Calhoun. As part of the ALA’s annual State of America’s Libraries Report, their Office for Intellectual Freedom has released their list of the ten most frequently challenged books and authors in 2011: […]
Emily St. John Mandel’s The Lola Quartet Tops May Indie Next List
Here are the May picks: #1 Pick: The Lola Quartet: A Novel, by Emily St. John Mandel A Land More Kind Than Home: A Novel, by Wiley Cash In One Person: A Novel, by John Irving Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk: A Novel, by Ben Fountain Waiting for Sunrise: A Novel, by William Boyd Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale: A Novel, by Lynda Rutledge All Woman and Springtime, by Brandon Jones The Uninvited Guests: A Novel, by Sadie Jones The Book Lover: A Novel, by Maryann McFadden Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir), by Jenny Lawson […]
Patchett, Eugenides, Hamilton and Obreht Take Indie Choice Awards
The American Booksellers Association announced the winners of their 2012 book awards. Author turned bookseller Ann Patchett is the “most engaging author,” noted for “her exceptional involvement and responsiveness during in-store appearances and for having a strong sense of the importance of indie booksellers to their local communities.” The Indie Choice winners are: Fiction The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Nonfiction Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, by Gabrielle Hamilton (Random House) Debut The Tiger’s Wife, by Téa Obreht (Random House) YA Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel) The […]