Matt Brown has been named SVP of Scholastic and President of Klutz, the company’s “books plus” division for children, reporting to trade division president Ellie Berger. Previously Brown was co-founder and “play czar” at strategic innovation company big BOING LLC. Helen Atsma will join Grand Central Publishing as a senior editor at the end of August, reporting to Deb Futter. She arrives from Holt, where her authors inclued #1 NYT bestseller Rhoda Janzen, Costa Prize winner Catherine O’Flynn, Eugenia Kim and Ali Shaw. Derek Lawrence has been named Director of Retail Sales at Interweave, effective immediately, reporting to Steve Koenig. […]
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People and Announcements
Dan Smetanka has been named Editor-at-large for both Counterpoint and Soft Skull Press. Previously he was a senior editor with Phoenix Books, and brings over six titles originally on the now-closed publisher’s schedule to Counterpoint, starting with 51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life by Kristen McGuiness, due for publication on August 31. Smetanka will remain in Los Angeles and will acquire fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, current events, and history titles. Brin Stevens has joined Velveteen Films to help launch their new book-to-film department. VarietyBarnes & Noble is partnering with Blackboard through its new NOOKStudy program that “aims to […]
People and Announcements
Stacy Boyd has been promoted to Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire. She was most recently with Harlequin’s Feature and Custom Publishing Program. Edward Orloff has joined McCormick & Williams as an agent after six years with The Wylie Agency. John Groton will be joining the National Book Network as VP, Sales effective August 2. Previously he held senior and executive sales positions at Simon & Schuster, Random House, and most recently Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Sandra Homer has joined The Bukowski Agency as the new Manager of Contracts and Translation Rights. Effective January 1, Fordham University Press titles will be distributed and […]
People: Loehnen & Ferrari-Adler to S&S; New LAT Book Editor; Harvey Pekar Dies; and More
Simon & Schuster has named Ben Loehnen and Jofie Ferrari-Adler as senior editors for the adult trade imprint, reporting to Executive VP and Publisher Jonathan Karp. Loehnen joins from HarperCollins, where he has been since 2007, while Ferrari-Adler has spent the past four years at Grove/Atlantic. The Los Angeles Times has named Jon Thurber as its new Books Editor. He spent the past year as managing editor,print, and was previously obituaries editor for 11 years. Memo (via LA Observed) Mindy Chon has been appointed as manager, International Sales Operations for Random House, reporting to Cyrus Kheradi. Most recently she was […]
Sotomayor Memoir to Knopf
Knopf will publish a coming-of-age memoir by Sonia Sotomayor, in which she will detail growing up in the South Bronx as an American daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants and track the events that culminated in her recent appointment as a Supreme Court Judge. “Sonia Sotomayor has lived a remarkable life and her achievements will prove an inspiration to readers around the world,” said Sonny Mehta in yesterday’s release. “Hers is a triumph of the Latino experience in America.” Knopf acquired World rights from Peter Bernstein to the still-untitled book, which will be published simultaneously in a Spanish-language edition by Vintage […]
Lively Testimony at BN Trial
Coverage of the first day of testimony in Ron Burkle’s lawsuit against Barnes & Noble in Delaware makes for fascinating, if not crystal clear, reading. Burkle indicated that he considered–but then rejected–a buyout bid for BN last year at $25 a share. (The stock now trades for under $13, its lowest point in years.) He accumulated stock last fall because he thought the company was historically cheap–“This was one of those things you would look back on and say ‘this could never happen again'”–but on that point he’s already been proven wrong by the market. Burkle is considering nominating his […]