Mary Albi is returning to Phaidon as vice president, leading their US operation as of April 1, reporting to ceo David Davies. She had run Phaidon in the US previously until leaving in 2003. Albi has been sales and marketing director at Egmont USA since 2009. Amanda D’Acierno has been promoted to svp, publisher at Random House Audio, Fodor’s, and Living Language. At Crown/Hogarth, Zack Wagman has been promoted to senior editor, and Christine Kopprasch moves up to associate editor. Brandon Proia has joined the University of North Carolina Press as acquisitions editor. Previously he was an editor at Public Affairs. […]
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People: A New Agency, and More
Agent Laurie McLean has left Larsen Pomada after 8 years and formed Foreword Literary, in partnership with former Larsen Pomada colleague Pam van Hylckama Vlieg and Gordon Warnock, who was an agent at Andrea Hurst & Associates. They are joined by assistant agents Danielle Smith and Jen Karsbaek. Foreword Literary will be a “virtual agency,” with professionals in the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento, Chicago and the central coast of California to start. The agency aims to “blend the knowledge and skills of traditional publishing with the brash new opportunities engendered by digital publishing, self-publishing, ebooks, and technology. NYT bestselling YA fantasy author Julie […]
People, Awards, Etc.: Thoma, DiMona Join Writers House
Writers House announced that Geri Thoma and Lisa DiMona have joined the agency. Thoma, who joins on March 18, was previously partner at Markson Thoma, while DiMona, who will start on April 8, was founder and sole proprietor of Lark Productions, a literary agency and book development company established in 1998. “We are delighted that Geri and Lisa are joining our growing team of agents. Their expertise in nonfiction will complement our list and enlarge the scope of the agency,” said Writers House chairman Amy Berkower in a statement. In addition, Stephen Barr was recently promoted to senior agent, while […]
BEA Announces This Year’s Buzz Book Panel Titles
BEA organizers have announced the books to be featured on the convention’s three “buzz” book panels for adult, young adult, and middle grade books. with one panel each day starting on Wednesday. The adult panel is on Wednesday afternoon (May 29), with the YA panel on Thursday morning and the middle grade panel on Friday morning. In one marked variation, the adult panel, which usually comprises mostly fiction, will feature four nonfiction books this year. Adult All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior (Ecco, January 2014) Knocking on Heavens Door: The Path to a […]
People, Etc.
Kevin Powers won the PEN/Hemingway Award for his debut novel THE YELLOW BIRDS. He will receive his award at a ceremony at the JFK Presidential Library & Museum on March 24. In the UK, Tesco has hired Gavin Sathianathan to head their ebook portion of their blinkbox digital media offer, to launch later this year. Tesco had purchased Mobcast last September as the foundation of their ebook program. They will offer digital books, music and movies under the blinkbox name. Currently working at Facebook, Sathianathan had worked as an intern at the previous incarnation of blinkbox (a streaming video company). […]
Books In the News
There is a wave of praise for Sonali Deraniyagala‘s memoir of life after the tsunami, which is Amazon’s spotlight pick for the month and one of the BN’s favorites as well (also tipped as one of our spring memoir/biography buzz books to watch for), as Mohsin Hamid‘s How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia releases tomorrow as well after competing pre-publication first reviews in the NYT and Washington Post last month. It’s a very competitive week for new releases, including Anne Carson’s Red Doc, Andrew Pyper’s The Demonologist, and nonfiction from Jeb Bush (on immigration), Sandra Day O’Connor, Christa Parravani’s memoir […]