The Justice Department dropped its unusual lawsuit against Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, author of Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady. The lawsuit, filed during the final months of Donald Trump’s administration in October 2020, claimed the book violated the author’s White House nondisclosure agreement. A Justice Department official told the Washington Post, “The Department evaluated the case and concluded that dismissal without prejudice was in the best interests of the United States based on the facts and the law.” Bookselling The Boston Globe ran a profile on Bookshop.org and founder Andy Hunter, celebrating […]
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Briefs
Awards Max Gross‘s novel The Lost Shtetl won the Association of Jewish Libraries Jewish Fiction Award. Nicole Krauss’s To Be a Man and Colum McCann’s Apeirogon were selected as honor books. Bookselling A number of large UK retailers, including Waterstones, have yet again called on the government to reduce or remove their business rates (a tax on property used for business). Waterstones ceo James Daunt said in the Sunday Times,”The government’s failure to do anything on business rates is mind-boggling … how long can they go on year after year, wringing their hands and saying, ‘We’re thinking about it’? It’s pathetic.'” Daunt […]
People, Etc.
Macmillan announced a restructuring of its central digital marketing team. Cristina Gilbert has been promoted to senior vice president, publishing and marketing strategy, reporting to Jon Yaged. Newly reporting to Gilbert will be Cara Chirichella, vp, digital marketing & technology and Jacob Fanning, senior director, email marketing and CRM. The evp, marketing & consumer strategy role is being eliminated, and Jeff Carroll will leave Macmillan. Hillary Scarbrough has been promoted to vp, business systems. Newly reporting to Scarbrough will be Clark Fife, senior director, metadata services. On the trade finance team, Jason Arvelo, vp, data science & analytics, will now […]
People, Etc.
Liz Stein has been promoted to executive editor for William Morrow. At Dutton/Plume, Natalie Church has been promoted to marketing manager and Caroline Payne to assistant marketing manager. Stephanie Kelly becomes senior editor for Dutton, and Cassidy Sachs associate editor. At Catapult, Megha Majumdar has been promoted to senior editor, and Kendall Storey has been promoted to editor & foreign rights manager. Hana Park has been promoted to assistant editor at Simon & Schuster. Tricja Okuniewska has been promoted to assistant editor at Putnam. Tom Marquet has been promoted to managing editor, digital, at Random House Children’s, and Bess Schelper […]
People, Etc.
Obituaries National Book Award winner Barry Lopez, 75, died Christmas Day following a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. Publishing veteran Roland Elgey, 65, died recently of colorectal cancer. He was 65 years old. His 40 years in publishing included serving as president of Que Computer Publishing and svp of sales at Que/Sams, Hungry Minds. Later in his career he worked in publishing services, most recently as vp for business development at Integra Software Services. Biographer Scott Donaldson, 92, died on December 1 of lung cancer. Poet Jean Valentine, 86, whose collection Door in the Mountain, won the 2004 National Book Award, […]
Struggling Barnes & Noble Education Gets $15 Million Investment from Sports Merchandiser
Barnes & Noble Education got a lift from news of a modest $15 million investment from sports team retailer Fanatics (and their brick-and-mortar subsidiary that sells hats and other merch, Lids). The investors will receive 2.3 million shares in BNED, bought at the far-above-market price of $6.50 a share. The parties intend to create a “long-term strategic omnichannel merchandising partnership” (the reliance on “omnichannel” to make it sound important is a warning on its own). While BNED has been touting their growing expertise in digital and ecommerce, now they proclaim that Fanatics is the key to “bring[ing] a best-of-breed retail […]