Rebecca Gardner is joining The Gernert Company as its rights director. She was most recently vp and director of sub rights at the Random House Publishing Group. Kensington editor Kate Duffy, 56, died recently after a long illness. Among the many honors she received, Duffy won the Romance Writers of America’s inaugural Industry Award in 1991. Her long career as a romance editor included serving as founding editor of Silhouette Books and founder of Harlequin’s Worldwide Library imprint and Pocket’s Tapestry Books, while at Kensington she established Brava Books. A memorial service will be scheduled soon.
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Spanish Media Company Sells Stake in Santillana
Houghton parent company Education Media is hardly the only overindebted conglomerate with book publishing interests. This morning Spanish media group Prisa said it would sell a 25 percent stake in book publisher Grupo Santillana for approximately $362 million. The buyer is Credit Suisse-run private equity firm DLJ South American Partners. Spain’s biggest media company, Prisa carries debt of over 5 billion euros, so the sale of the Santillana stake will have little overall impact. Santillana is “one of Prisa’s most profitable units,” the WSJ notes, adding that “the fact that Prisa is selling off part of such a lucrative unit […]
People
At Pocket Books, Jaime Costas has been promoted to associate editor. William Safire, the NYT’s “oracle of language,” died Sunday at 79 of pancreatic cancer.NYT
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John Wicker has decided to leave his position as evp of Klopotek North America and restart his consulting business, and he will continue to consult for Klopotek. Over the past four years, Klopotek’s revenue in this region grew tenfold. Karen Tiesling will take over Wicker’s responsibilities as evp sales of Klopotek North America (where she is also evp of product development). She joined the company when Klopotek acquired Global Turnkey Systems in 2006. Amy King will join Rodale Books as executive director, art & design on October 5, reporting to Karen Rinaldi. She has been creative director for Bloomsbury USA. […]
People
Boston Globe books editor for the past seven years Jim Concannon is leaving the paper to work as news editor at Harvard’s public affairs office.Phoenix In the UK, publishing director at Chatto & Windus for the past 12 years Alison Samuel announced that she will retire at the end of the year. Editorial director Clara Farmer will move up to publishing director in January. Samuel says in the announcement: “I wanted to go out on a high. How could I possibly better the last 18 months in which Rose Tremain won the Orange Prize, Alice Munro was awarded the Man […]
Briefs
* Barnes & Noble named Louise Penny‘s THE BRUTAL TELLING as their sixteenth “Recommends” program main selection. The pick also marks three in a row for publisher Voice (following August’s The Day the Falls Stood Still, by Cathy Marie Buchanan and July’s The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, by Katherine Howe), a first for any single imprint. * In the UK, The Bookseller reports that Nielsen BookScan data shows sales of almost 551,000 copies for Dan Brown’s THE LOST SYMBOL in the first five days on sale. * Writers Edwidge Danticat and Deborah Eisenberg and poet Heather McHugh are among […]