Picks Barack Obama published a few pre-election reading recommendations. They include How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt and The Broken Ladder by Keith Payne, in addition to magazine pieces by Matthew Desmond and Yoni Appelbaum. BuzzFeed has finally launched the monthly book club, they have been talking about for a while. Family Trust by Kathy Wang is the inaugural November pick. Enrolled members will receive two newsletters a month with “exclusive content from the authors, highlights from the Facebook group, blurbs from future selections, giveaways, and more.” Unfortunately, like Oprah, there is at least some kind of awkward Amazon promotional arrangement involved. Though it’s […]
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People, Etc.
Alex W. Meriwether will be promoted to general manager of the Harvard Book Store as of March 1. He has worked there since 2004, most recently as marketing manager, and takes over from Carole Horne, who has been with the store for 43 years. Horne will continue working on a part-time basis, serving in the buying group and as a senior advisor to management. Co-owner Jeff Mayersohn says in the announcement, “We are thrilled about Alex’s taking the General Manager position at a time when there is a resurgence in independent brick-and-mortar bookselling. He has done an extraordinary job in […]
Book TV: The New York Times Pairs with PBS NewsHour; Chicago’s Book Hunt Pilot
The New York Times and PBS NewsHour will launch a collaborative monthly book club, Now Read This, starting with Jesmyn Ward’s National Book Award-winning novel Sing, Unburied, Sing. The book club will debut tonight on PBS NewsHour, and over the course of the month readers can join in on both outlet’s platforms and websites as well as a dedicated Facebook group. The month’s reading will culminate in the author being interviewed by NewsHour arts correspondent Jeffery Brown. “With the launch of ‘Now Read This’, we’re excited to expand the NewsHour’s decades long commitment to coverage of books and the arts,” […]
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 […]
Briefs: Amazon Books, Books for Amazon Studios, and More
Bookselling Amazon Books is planning a new location on Bethesda Row in Bethesda, Maryland. The retailer filed a building permit on November 8 to renovate the 6,000-square-foot space at 7117 Arlington Road, currently occupied by a home furnishing store. Barnes & Noble will close their big, nearby 37,500-square-foot store at Bethesda Row at the end of the year when their lease expires, after 20 years in the location. In Washington, DC proper, online bookseller Mahogany Books will open a physical store at the Anacostia Arts Center on November 24. Harassment DC Comics has reportedly fired group editor Eddie Berganza, following an extensive report in BuzzFeed recounting […]
Film/TV News: LB Children’s and Gotham Group, Boom! and Fox
Little, Brown Children’s has an agreement with The Gotham Group “to develop original IP properties for film and TV,” as announced through Deadline. Their first project is the spring 2018 paperback publication of the YA thriller Phantom Wheel by Tracy Deebs. “The idea was conceived in a development meeting between the two companies and they quickly set on Deebs, who has written eight YA novels.” LB Children’s editor-in-chief of licensing and IP Kara Sargent will oversee the initiative for the publisher, with Gotham ceo Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and co-head of the literary department Eddie Gamarra running their side of the effort. The story says […]