Lisa Donovan, vice president and executive managing editor at Simon & Schuster Children’s will retire on March 20, after 20 years with the company. Jon Anderson, president and publishers of S&S Children’s said in the announcement, “It is no exaggeration to say that for twenty years, Lisa has been the nexus of the entire Children’s Publishing Division. Her flawless supervision of a massively talented staff of managing editors, production editors, copyeditors and proofreaders has shepherded from manuscript to finished book at least 15,000 titles in every one of our huge variety of publishing formats.” At Harper Children’s, Audrey Steuerwald has […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: Bankrupt Book People Fires More People; Book Culture Landlord Supports A Bookstore — with A Different Operator
Insolvent UK retailer The Book People has been unable to find a buyer for the business, and another 82 people at their main warehouse were fired last Friday as a result. Since going to bankruptcy administration, the company has let go over 150 people from a staff of just under 400 — meaning more jobs remain on the line as PricewaterhouseCoopers winds down operations. Separately, the landlord for the seized Book Culture space on Columbus Avenue in NYC tells the Gothamist, “Our intention is to keep that space as a bookstore and we’re working hard to do that. It just […]
People, Etc.
Nancy Brennan will join Candlewick as executive art director, starting January 16. She has worked at Viking Children’s for 18 years. Katherine Wessbecher has joined the Bradford Literary Agency as literary agent. Previously, she was associate editor at Putnam Children’s. At Severn House, owned by Canongate, publisher Kate Lyall Grant has joined the company’s board. Ten Speed Press executive editor Lisa Westmoreland has “embarked on a new adventure” and is no longer at the company. Jason Reynolds will succeed Jacqueline Woodson as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for the next two years, announced jointly by The Library of Congress, […]
People, Etc.
At Crown, Libby Burton will join as executive editor, starting January 27, reporting to Gillian Blake. She most recently worked at Holt (as did Blake). Matt Inman is promoted to executive editor. Zach Phillips, Aubrey Martinson, and Lydia Morgan have each been promoted to assistant editor. Longtime St. Martin’s executive editor Hope Dellon announced that she is officially retiring. Peter Kispert has joined Dey Street Books as an assistant editor. At Abrams Children’s, Megan Carlson has joined as associate managing editor. Megan Kelchner has joined the design team as a junior designer. Most recently, she worked at Carrot New York, […]
People, Etc.
Zareen Jaffery will join Kokila as executive editor on January 13. She was previously executive editor at Simon & Schuster Children’s. Rachel Beck has joined Liza Dawson Associates as agent. She was previously an agent with Holloway Literary. Emily Duval has been promoted to manager, library marketing at Random House Children’s. Natalie Capogrossi has joined Random House Children’s as assistant manager, school marketing. She was previously a teacher and intern at Writer’s House. At, Princeton Architectural Press, Jessica Tackett has been promoted to marketing manager; Parker Menzimer has been promoted to production editor; Stephanie Holstein has been promoted to associate […]
Book Culture’s UWS Store Seized by City Marshal
The complicated status of Book Culture‘s store on Columbus Avenue, co-owned by Book Culture owner Chris Doeblin and 40-percent partner John “Rick” MacArthur, has come to an unfortunate point: The City Marshal seized the store, which is now closed, as the landlord moves to recover the premises and evict the store for unpaid back rent. Doeblin posted on Facebook, “Our beloved store on Columbus was seized today unexpectedly, by our landlord. I mistakenly believed that action was retracted after paying our rent the last 5 months and cutting our arrears by $35k in December.” He said in an email to […]