Dawn Durante will join University of Texas Press as editor in chief on August 10. She was previously senior acquisitions editor at University of Illinois Press. Catherine Zappa has been promoted to publisher and evp of film & television at Dreamscape Media. Rachel Spence has joined The Rights Factory as associate editor. She was previously acquisitions editor at Dundurn Press. Picks Barnes & Noble chose Rachel Beanland‘s Florence Adler Swims Forever as its July book club selection. Book Fairs As expected, Canada will not participate in this year’s actual Frankfurt Book Fair as the featured/paid “guest of honor.” They will […]
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Sandy Lu has founded Book Wyrm Literary Agency, focusing on commercial fiction and nonfiction, bringing over her clients from the L. Perkins Agency, where she has been for almost 12 years. Chelene Knight has joined Transatlantic Agency as associate agent. She was previously managing editor at Room magazine and festival director for the Growing Room Literary Festival in Vancouver. Tara Gavin has joined Alcove Press and Crooked Lane Books as a senior acquisitions editor, working on book club and women’s fiction as well as select mysteries. Previously she was an executive editor at Kensington. President of Oxford University Press USA Niko Pfund took over […]
Bookselling: Indigo’s Reisman Warns More Government Support Is Needed, As Indie Booksellers Explain Out-of-Stock to New Supporters
Canada’s dominant bookselling chain Indigo has closed 20 of their smaller-format Coles stores “which were either not profitable or very, very marginal,” ceo Heather Reisman told BNN Bloomberg. “That was a tough decision because in those communities, we were the only bookstore, and I suspect the only store willing to operate at a loss to serve the community,” she said. Indigo is due to report fourth quarter results later this week, but as of the third quarter, they had 111 small format stores under the Coles, Indigospirit and The Book Company brands. Indigo has reopened 60 to 70 percent of […]
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April Powers joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators as its inaugural chief equity & inclusion officer on June 3. Most recently she ran her own global inclusion consulting and training firm, First Impression Rx, after serving in diversity roles at Nestlé USA and Amgen. Michael Roberts has been named interim executive director for The Center for Fiction, effective June 30, while a national search is conducted for a permanent executive director. Most recently executive director of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, his background includes 11 years as executive director of PEN American Center. Peter Knox has […]
Briefs: Bookselling News, and More
Bookselling Barnes & Noble‘s Upper East Side location in NYC has closed permanently. B&N said to PL: “We can confirm that we are to close our bookstore at 86th St. and Lexington Ave. The store has served us well over the years but is now too large, and too expensive, for our needs. We have therefore made the difficult decision to close the store to focus energy and resources on improving our other bookstores in New York City.” The store closed in March due to COVID-19 and B&N is in “active pursuit of a new site” in the area. B&N […]
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Michael C. Wright will lead the college department at Norton, succeeding the longtime director, Roby Harrington, who will continue at Norton in his role as vice chairman. Norton president Julia Reidhead said in the release, “Few generational milestones can be more significant to Norton’s future than the hand-off of College Department leadership. Michael Wright has overseen dramatic growth and transformation during his tenure as Director of College Sales and previously enjoyed great success as an editor and marketer. His appointment assures us that College leadership will go from strength to strength.” Brad Schwartz joins Audible June 15 as chief content […]