Annysa Polanco has been promoted to director, diversity, equity & inclusion at Penguin Random House. In the coming year, the company will add “more fully-dedicated positions” in diversity, equity & inclusions roles across the divisions, including a new “board-level DE&I leadership position” that will report directly to PRH US ceo Madeline McIntosh. Polanco will report to that new executive once the role is filled. Michael DeFazio had been promoted to vice president & executive director, production planning, analytics, and paper purchasing, Penguin Random House. Film/TV Production outfit The Mazur Kaplan Company — run by bookseller Mitchell Kaplan and producer Paula […]
Film/TV
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Andy Bird will take over as ceo of Pearson, starting October 19. At that point, current ceo John Fallon will continue in the position until then, when he will step down from the board and remain as an advisor through the end of the year. Bird had been chairman of Walt Disney International most recently, and joined Pearson’s board in May. Board chair Sidney Taurel said, “Andy brings a wealth of international consumer experience, as well as significant expertise in building brands, transformational change and driving digital innovation. He is an inspirational and dynamic leader with an excellent track record […]
Briefs: Strong Opening Sales for Bolton
Simon & Schuster announced Wednesday morning that John Bolton’s THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED: A White House Memoir sold “a total of more than 780,000” units in its first week on sale in the US. Note, however, that the total includes “orders from consumers that are as yet unfulfilled due to extraordinary demand,” which is unusual for a “sales” tabulation by industry practice. (Remember that the publisher told the court it had shipped approximately 200,000 copies to accounts in the US.) The publisher says it has an eleventh printing on the way that will bring the number of hardcovers in […]
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At Macmillan Children’s, Morgan Kane has been promoted to assistant director, publicity; Justin Krasner to senior editor of Odd Dot; Rachel Murray to associate editor at Holt Children’s; and Jessica Chung to junior designer. Daniel Ehrenhaft is leaving Soho Teen to devote more time to the nonprofit WAAC and to explore new opportunities in service of young adult literature. Alexa Wejko has been promoted to editor at Soho Teen, in addition to her role as publicist. Bill Shannon, 57, longtime director of contracts at the Knopf Doubleday Group, died on May 9, from complications of kidney cancer. He joined Knopf in 2000. […]
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Gregory Henry has joined Apollo Publishers as publicist. Previously he ran Gregory Henry Literary. At a virtual meeting, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) approved three new board members, who will start their terms on July 1: Joshua Boisvert, ReaderLink; Allen Johnson, Baker & Taylor; and Joshua Tallent, Firebrand Technologies. At Canongate, Hannah Knowles has been promoted to editorial director and Vicki Rutherford moves up to head of editorial management. Stuart Weir has joined Yale University Press London in the newly created role of production director, overseeing editorial, production and design for London-originated titles. He was most recently publishing operations […]
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Philip Gwyn Jones will move to Picador and become publisher on June 2. He has been publisher-at-large at Scribe UK. Jones fills the position Paul Baggaley vacates at the end of this month, when he moves to Bloomsbury. (Associate publisher Francesca Main is also leaving Picador, to start a new imprint at Orion.) Leah Miller has joined Atria as executive editor. She was most recently at Grand Central. At Del Rey, Sarah Peed has been promoted to senior editor; Tom Hoeler to editor; and Alex Larned to associate editor. Allison Adler has been promoted to senior editor at Andrews McMeel. Brooke […]