The Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Prize for literature, has named Mats Malm its new permanent secretary. The previous permanent secretary, Sara Danius, resigned last April after a sexual harassment and leaking scandal. Anders Olsson has been filling the role since last June. Malm, a professor of literary theory at the University of Gothenburg, joined the academy four months ago. Katie Hope will join the Princeton University Press as marketing director in June, leading marketing and sales teams in Princeton and Oxford. She was most recently director of marketing and author relations at MIT Press. Jake-Ryan Kent was promoted […]
Film/TV
Winter Is Here: What the Writers Guild Fight Means for Authors and Agents
More than a week ago the Writers Guild of America (WGA) ordered its members to fire their agents, and there’s no end in sight to writers’ objections to film and TV packaging fees and big agencies’ production affiliates. On April 16, the WGA escalated the situation by filing a civil lawsuit against the Association of Talent Agents (ATA) in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that packaging fees violate federal and state law with respect to agents’ fiduciary duties to writer clients. (Talent agencies, unlike talent management firms and literary agencies, are licensed and regulated by the state.) It’s a Hollywood […]
Simon & Schuster to Launch Nonfiction Imprint Tiller Press; Wattpad Pairs with Sony Television
Simon & Schuster will launch Tiller Press, “a trend driven imprint focused on publishing timely, culturally relevant books,” this June. With 19 titles planned for 2019, Tiller Press will publish “practical nonfiction, serving readers clamoring for information to solve real-world problems,” including books on wellness, self-expression, empathy, food and cooking, diet, parenting, home, and more. Theresa DiMasi leads the imprint as vice president, publisher. Most recently, she was vice president, head of content and editor in chief at Weight Watchers International, and previously held various senior editorial and other roles at Conde Nast and elsewhere. Sam Ford serves as director […]
People, Etc.
T.S. Ferguson, has joined Jimmy Patterson as editor. He was previously editor with Harlequin Teen/Inkyard Press. Olivia Peluso has joined The Experiment as associate editor. She was previously editorial assistant at Portfolio/Sentinel. At Sourcebooks, Ashlyn Keil has been promoted to marketing associate, children’s and YA. Katie Stutz has been promoted to author relations associate. Brittany Russell has been promoted to PR specialist at Amazon Publishing. Tess Callero has joined Europa Content as agent. She was previously with Curtis Brown. Film/TV At the Apple TV+ event on Monday, Oprah Winfrey announced that one of her projects for streaming service would be […]
Apple’s Soon-to-Be Revealed Streaming Service Features Many Book Adaptations
As Apple prepares to explain their long-in-the-works streaming video service at a March 25 event in Cupertino, CA, there’s more word in advance regarding one book-related project. Last August a deal was announced for a “sizable script-to-series commitment” to develop Min Jin Lee’s PACHINKO as a series. Now comes confirmation that Apple has made an eight-episode series order — backed by a “premium budget” and ambition to rival Netflix’s The Crown, in making the series in Korean, Japanese and English. Other books in development at Apple for streaming include Hilde Lysiak and Matthew Lysiak’s HILDE CRACKS THE CASE and William […]
People, Etc.
Mauro DiPreta will join the William Morrow group on March 4 as svp, executive editor, reporting to Liate Stehlik. He previously worked at HarperCollins for 16 years until 2011, and mostly recently was founder, vp and publisher of Hachette Books. Katya Shannon is stepping down this spring as vice president, special markets, Penguin Random House. She has been with the company since joining Putnam in 1980 as a field sales rep. Amanda Close will oversee special markets starting in May, in addition to her current role leading strategic market development. Hillary Brady has joined DK as digital marketing manager. She was […]