Annie Proulx will receive the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the awards ceremony on November 15, honored “for her exceptional work and significant impact on American literature.” Actor Anne Hathaway (who starred in the film adaptation of Brokeback Mountain) will present the award. Proulx tells the AP, “I was astonished when first I heard that news. I simply had not thought of my various writings as a body of work that might be considered as a contribution to American letters. It almost seemed that I had been negligent in writing what I considered discrete novels […]
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People, Etc.
Byrd Leavell has moved to UTA. Waxman Leavell Literary Agency will revert to its original name, Waxman Literary Agency. Azia Cheng has been promoted to ceo of Penguin Random House North Asia, reporting to Markus Dohle, effective immediately. She has been sales director there since 2008 and succeeds Helen Duan, who departed last month. The Frankfurt Book Fair announced their 16 fellows for this year. New Directions editor Tynan Kogane is the first Fred Kobrak Frankfurt Fellow, a new award that will fund one participant a year for the next ten years. Awards Canada’s big Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for […]
People, Etc.
Shannon Jamieson Vazquez has joined Crooked Lane as senior acquisition editor. She continues to run SJV Editorial, and was previously an editor at Berkley. At Random House Children’s, Nancee Adams has joined as copy editor. She was previously was a freelance copy editor and proofreader. Bess Schelper has joined as associate copy editor. She was previously a website managing editor and social media editor, and worked on the Penguin Random House corporate metadata cleanup project. Miriam Miller has joined Holiday House Publishing in the newly created position of senior subsidiary rights manager, reporting to vp of rights, permissions and digital publishing […]
People, Etc.: Sheinkman to PFD, and More
Elizabeth Sheinkman will move to PFD as executive director of the books department and senior agent on October 5, and she will join the agency’s executive board. She has been at WME in London since 2012, moving over from Curtis Brown UK. Agency ceo Caroline Michel says in the announcement, “We are lucky to have someone with Elizabeth’s experience and knowledge joining the team and look forward to welcoming her and her clients and growing the business with her.” Sheinkman adds that she looks forward to “the chance at this juncture to develop new skills through a role that will […]
Ward and Egan Lead National Book Award Fiction Longlist
The National Book Awards announced their final longlist on Friday morning, for the fiction award. (Asterisked titles have not been released yet.) Independent presses fared well, with 5 titles in contention: Elliot Ackerman, Dark at the Crossing (Knopf) Daniel Alarcón, The King Is Always Above the People: Stories* (Riverhead) Charmaine Craig, Miss Burma (Grove Press) Jennifer Egan, Manhattan Beach* (Scribner) Lisa Ko, The Leavers (Algonquin) Min Jin Lee, Pachinko (Grand Central) Carmen Maria Machado, Her Body and Other Parties: Stories* (Graywolf) Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, A Kind of Freedom (Counterpoint) Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing (Scribner) Carol Zoref, Barren Island (New […]
People, Etc.
Susan Van Metre will join Candlewick Press as executive editorial director of the new Walker Books US imprint, set to launch in fall 2018. Van Metre has been with Abrams for the past 15 years, most recently as svp and publisher of the children’s division, and will remain based in New York. President and publisher of Candlewick Press and group managing director of the Walker Books Group, Karen Lotz says: “We are extremely lucky to have someone of Susan’s keen talents and vast knowledge join us at this important moment in our corporate history. Helping the Walker Bear take up new digs in the […]