Jordan Fenn has joined McClelland & Stewart as publisher of a joint Fenn/McClelland & Stewart imprint, which will focus on hockey books. The first title will be the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Championship book scheduled for this June, with additional new titles are scheduled for this fall and next year. For the past 15 years Fenn was publisher of Fenn Publishing Company, which shut down in the wake of its parent company HB Fenn’s bankruptcy earlier this year. Both the NYT and AP offer extensive obits on Owen Laster, who died yesterday of cancer. In a statement WME literary department head […]
Awards
People, Awards, Etc.
Former Executive Vice President and Worldwide Head of Literary Operations for William Morris Agency Owen Laster, 72, died this morning after a short illness. Laster represented a distinguished and diverse roster of bestselling and literary authors, ranging from Ralph Ellison, Chaim Potok, Robert Penn Warren, Gay Talese, Edward Albee, and Gore Vidal, to James Michener, Dominic Dunne, Susan Isaacs, Andrew Grove, William Diehl, and Judith McNaught. A New Jersey native, Laster graduated from Syracuse University, and after serving in the Army worked at William Morris for over forty years. Laura Nolan has joined Paradigm as a literary agent and will […]
People, Authors, Etc.
Knopf publisher Sonny Mehta will receive the London Book Fair’s Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing. Nancy Planitzer is joining Greater Talent Network as an account executive as part of their Publishers Speakers Bureaus division (which works with both SImon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group). She was formerly an account coordinator with the Macmillan Speakers Bureau. Franklin & Siegal has been appointed literary scout for China Citic Press in Beijing. Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman are co-writing and executive producing a drama for HBO, currently called Hobgoblin, about “a motley group of con-men and magicians who use […]
Goldman Tops April Indie Next List
No. 1: Say Her Name: A Novel, by Francisco Goldman Fire Season: Field Notes From a Wilderness Lookout, by Philip Connors Please Look After Mom: A Novel, by Kyung-Sook Shin and Chi-Young Kim Galore: A Novel, by Michael Crummey The Trinity Six, by Charles Cumming The School of Night: A Novel, by Louis Bayard Night Road: A Novel, by Kristin Hannah Deep Future: The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth, by Curt Stager A Lesson in Secrets: A Maisie Dobbs Novel, by Jacqueline Winspear A Covert Affair: The Adventures of Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS, by […]
Crown Retires Doubleday Religion, Plus More People News
The Crown Publishing Group is retiring Doubleday Religion as an imprint, and will publish all Catholic-interest titles under the existing Image Books imprint (established in 1954). Trace Murphy continues as editor-in-chief of Image (and will still acquire for Harmony as well), now reporting to Steve Cobb, whose title modified to president and publisher of Waterbrook Multnomah and Image Books. Image’s editorial, art and production staff will remain in New York, but marketing, publicity, and sales administration will be run out of the Colorado Springs office under associate publisher Carie Freimuth. Crown deputy publisher Michael Palgon writes in an internal memo […]
People, Awards, and Announcements
Kensington Books founder and chairman emeritus Walter Zacharius died Wednesday at the age of 87. He was also the author of the 2005 novel The Memories We Keep, publishing when he was 81. Agent Richard Curtis writes: “His career paralleled and exemplified the rise of the great postwar paperback industry, and his genius shaped his company into a major force in the industry. Yet, even at an advanced age, he recognized the significance of digital technology and inspired his company to forge into the new era.” Obit At Simon & Schuster, Doug Stambaugh has been promoted to vp, business development […]