At Random House, Caitlin McKenna and Anna Pitoniak have both been promoted to senior editor, while Emma Caruso moves up to assistant editor. Stephanie Doig has been promoted to associate editor at Harlequin. Michelle Meade has been promoted to the associate editor at Mira Books. At Graywolf Press, Casey O’Neil has been promoted to sales director. Caroline Nitz has been promoted to senior publicity manager. Mary Anne Thompson Associates has been appointed US scout for Greek publisher Metaichimio. In the UK, Jenny Savill has joined the board of directors at Andrew Nurnberg Associates. Picks Books-A-Million named Matt Haig’s novel How to Stop Time as its […]
Bookstores
Updates: Avedon Book, Milo’s Manuscript, and Book World’s Final Days
The NYT looked at the controversy over Norma Stevens and Steven Aronson’s Avedon: Something Personal, which we covered before the break. Publisher Spiegel & Grau adds to their earlier statement, now denying the Avedon Foundation’s claim that the book was mistakenly based in part on an unfinished autobiographical novel Avedon had worked on: “Norma Stevens did not copy or use a Richard Avedon novel in any way in writing Avedon: Something Personal. The Avedon Foundation has made loose, unsubstantiated allegations of copyright infringement without presenting any documented instances of substantial similarity between our book and another work.” But no one else seems to […]
Briefs
Harassment Files Both Target and Walmart said that they will drop Mario Batali‘s products — including his cookbooks — from their stores following extensive accusations of sexual harassment. ABC officially fired Batali from their show “The Chew,” and the Food Network dropped plans to create new episodes of his earlier TV show,”Molto Mario.” On Friday, Batali apologized again in his newsletter: “I have made many mistakes and I am so very sorry that I have disappointed my friends, my family, my fans and my team. My behavior was wrong and there are no excuses.” Bookselling Well-known indie That Bookstore in Blytheville […]
People, Etc.
Publisher of the Penguin Random House Audio Group Amanda D’Acierno has been promoted to executive vice president. At Harper One, Jenn Jensen has been promoted to associate director of marketing. Bonnier will expand their North American publishing operations, adding the Bonnier Zaffre imprint (which publishes authors including Wilbur Smith and Lynda La Plante). Valentina Rice has been hired as vp, sales, marketing & publicity for Bonnier Zaffre in the US, reporting to ceo Mark Smith. Rice spent 15 years at Penguin, most recently as vp, international sales & marketing, before launching her own e-commerce site helping small-batch artisanal food producers get […]
People, Etc.
Kim Thornton has been promoted to senior agent director for Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. At Waterbrook Multnomah, Andrew Stoddard has been promoted to the new position of lead acquisitions editor. Amara Hoshijo has been promoted to associate editor and rights manager at Soho Press. The Fred Rogers Company has appointed Rachel Hecht Children’s Scouting as literary scout for television. Harassment Files Executive art director of the Penguin Workshop imprint Giuseppe Castellano resigned from the company, following accusations of sexual harassment by actor Charlene Yi. Castellano posts: “As a result of her online campaign against me, an untenable […]
Barnes & Noble Stock Is So Cheap Even Riggio Is Buying Again
With Barnes & Noble’s stock sinking again after last week’s ever-disappointing quarterly results, chairman Len Riggio stepped in to support the price, buying 1 million shares at a weighted average price of $6.8027 per share. Since 2013 Riggio has been a seller of the shares, not a buyer. (In April 2014 he sold 3.7 million shares in a block trade, claiming it was “part of his long-term financial and estate planning.” At the end of 2013, Riggio and his wife had sold 2 million shares.) Riggio is the beneficial owner of 14 million shares now, or 19.3 percent of shares […]