Associate publisher of Skira Rizzoli Publications Karen Hansgen died on Sunday, January 10. Her family has just announced a memorial service for her tomorrow, on Friday, January 15 at 2:00 PM at: Brooklyn Friends Meeting House110 Schermerhorn StreetBrooklyn, New York 11201(718) 788-5990
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People, and A New Funke
Laney Katz Becker has joined the Markson Thoma Literary Agency as an agent. She was previously at Folio Literary Management. Former publisher of Harcourt Children’s Lori Benton has joined educational children’s publisher Capstone as general manager/publisher of their fiction imprints, which include Stone Arch Books and Picture Window Books.Cornelia Funke‘s next book RECKLESS (and the first in a new series) will have an international laydown on September 14. Little, Brown Children’s says they will print a million copies for the US market, joined on publication date with releases from Chicken House in the UK and Dressler in Germany. The book […]
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Financial House of Cards Reported Ready to Fall
Two debt restructurings last year still left Houghton Mifflin Harcourt parent company Education and Media Publishing Group (EMPG) straining to sustain their debt obligations and covenants, and reports from Ireland indicate yet another restructuring is in the works that would wipe out equity-holders entirely and turn the company over to its secured lenders. Investors losing out would include the financial genius behind the $9 billion worth of acquisitions, Barry O’Callaghan, whose interest was reduced to about 20 percent of the company last August. (He also made himself ceo of HMH last year when Tony Lucki wisely retired.) But it also […]
Bookselling: Bodhi Tree to Close
Owners of Los Angeles-based Bodhi Tree Bookstore Phil Thompson and Stan Madson reportedly told their staff last week that the store will be shutting its doors in a year’s time” after almost 40 years in business, LA Weekly reports. With both owners in their 70s, they decided to sell the building on Melrose Avenue to a real estate developer.LAW
People
Direct Brands has hired David Gitow as chief marketing officer and Alan Katz as evp, business development, the first major appointments under new ceo Deborah Fine. Gitow was cmo at both BN.com and Barnes & Noble, and in a long time stretch at Time, Inc. founded and ran Time, Inc. Home Entertainment. Katz has had a long career in magazine publishing, including executive positions at Vanity Fair and New York. BookEnds Literary Agency co-founder Jacky Sach will retire from publishing after 10 years as an agent for “new opportunities.” Sach began her publishing career in 1985 at Berkley. BookEnds will […]
Pfeffer Joins East/West Agency, and More People News
Former svp, group publisher of Simon & Schuster Children’s Trade imprints Rubin Pfeffer has joined the East/West Literary Agency, heading up the East Coast office in Boston as a partner, digital strategist, and content agent, a new position “focused on developing and creating content for the 21st -century incarnations of publishing, both electronic and traditional print.” Pfeffer says, “The value that I hope to offer East/West and the clients that I represent is being nimble and opportunistic about how their intellectual property can be leveraged effectively in this dawn of electronic publishing. There are many more options for writers and […]