The US Department of Justice has provided an unexpected Valentine to Penguin and Random House: The department notified Bertelsmann and Pearson “that it has closed its investigation into the proposed merger of Penguin and Random House, without conditions,” according to a statement from Penguin. The swift approval is remarkable, particularly since the DOJ took roughly nine months to sign off on the much smaller acquisition of Thomas Nelson by HarperCollins. (The merger deal was announced in October 2012.) That also makes the US the first country to approve the proposed merger. Review is still underway in Canada, at the European […]
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People, Etc.
Dawn Davis will join the Atria Publishing Group on April 1 as vp, publisher of a new yet-to-be-named imprint, reporting to Judith Curr. Davis was most recently publisher at Amistad. “Dawn Davis has impeccable credentials, great taste, and a discerning eye that enables her to discover unexpected books and unknown authors that go on to receive the highest praise and find wide audiences” Curr said in the announcement. “That she will now be bringing her ample talents to Atria and Simon & Schuster is a boon for us and readers everywhere.” Hannah Rahill will join Ten Speed Press as vp, […]
People, Etc.
Poets & Writers has named Steve Berry, Rigoberto González, and Judith Kelman as the recipients of their annual Writers for Writers Awards. Berry is honored for his dedication to historic preservation of sites of literary importance; Kelman for founding Visible Ink, a writing program at Memorial Sloan Kettering; and González for championing Latina/o writers. Chuck Adams at Algonquin Books will receive their editor’s award and Leonard Riggio will be honored with the organization’s first leadership award “for his transformational impact on the field.” The awards will presented at their annual gala on March 18. Neil Gaiman will give a keynote speech at the London Book Fair’s Digital Minds Conference. Margaret Atwood, Jonathan […]
New Books, and Books In the News
It’s a big week for new releases, and we highlight 15 of them on the regularly-updated Just Published carousel at Bookateria. Featured home page books in the news include the memoir from Shirley MacLaine’s daughter Sachi Parker (LUCKY ME), which MacLaine has denounced; the WSJ questioning Truman Capote‘s “immaculately factual” account in the breakthrough IN COLD BLOOD; Nick Hornby‘s ABOUT A BOY may return to the screen as a television show; and fresh looks at Sylia Plath‘s poetry on the 50th anniversary of her death. For more great February picks, we show Amazon’s books of the month, BN’s February selections, […]
People
Kobo executive Michael Tamblyn was promoted recently to the new position chief content officer for the ebookseller, and that move was officially announced today. He is responsible for Kobo’s content acquisition and sales, publisher and industry relations, and localized merchandising experiences across all of their services. CEO Michael Serbinis says in the announcement: “Michael Tamblyn’s leadership in the industry and his hands-on approach to working with publishers and authors has been instrumental to Kobo’s success. In his new role, he will continue to grow our existing catalogue and drive Kobo’s expansion into new content categories.” Rebecca Strauss will be moving […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Brandi Larsen has joined Penguin as director of Book Country. Previously she was at the Chicago Tribune, where she worked on adapting the paper’s content for mobile devices and tablets, and expanding the scope of their business and their relationship with their readers. At Clarkson Potter, Anna Mintz has been promoted to senior publicist and Sean Boyles has been promoted to publicist. In addition, Catherine Cullen has been promoted to publicist at the Crown imprint. In addition to Steve Kasdin‘s ongoing role as director of digital strategy at Curtis Brown, he is now taking on clients for representation as well, […]