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 […]
Film/TV
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 […]
People, Etc.
Sharon Kunz has joined Da Capo Press as senior publicist, focusing primarily on their Seal Press list and reporting to Lissa Warren. Previously, she was media engagement manager at Globe Pequot. She will be based in the Hachette Boston office. The American Library Association has promoted Mary Mackay to associate executive director for publishing, effective June 5th. She will lead ALA publishing and its Editions/Neal-Schuman, Booklist, American Libraries, eLearning Solutions, Digital Resources, and Graphics imprints. At Ingram Content Group, Nick Yates has been promoted to manager of operations analysis in Greater Nashville. Christy Johnson has joined as client relations manager for Ingram Academic Services in New York. Adaptations The long-gestating efforts to develop Robert Jordan’s Wheel […]
Random House Studio Taken Over By Bertelsmann’s FremantleMedia
Random House Studio, the eleven-year-old film and television group operated by Penguin Random House, has been “acquired by” and transferred over to FremantleMedia North America, part of PRH parent company Bertelsmann’s RTL division. In turn, FMNA has entered into a partnership with Meridian Entertainment, a China-based global content developer that will “work with FMNA and Random House Studio to finance and produce theatrical film projects.” FNMA adds that Meridian “will operate and grow the studio’s theatrical slate.” Meridian chairman Jennifer Dong adds in an announcement, “Meridian has the determination, strength and ability to make full use of the rich and varied […]
Briefs: Harper Pairs with Temple Hill, Final Days for St. Mark’s, and More
Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey’s film production company Temple Hill Entertainment has a new publishing agreement with HarperCollins in which the producers will “generate original ideas and opportunities for books and series,” that Harper will publish under the Temple Hill Publishing banner. Petersen Harris at Temple Hill will serve as their vp, publishing (he ran the Penguin Development Group before joining the production company in 2014, and is the son of Susan Petersen Kennedy and Bruce Harris), and the producers were represented by Writers House in the publishing deal. Temple Hill has produced adaptions of both YA (The Fault in Our Stars; Paper Towns, The […]