Longtime Washington Post Book World editor Ron Charles is transitioning into a “redefined job” at the paper. He writes: “No more editing! From now on, I just get to write about books for the paper. After assigning and editing reviews every day for more than 20 years, I feel like that old tiger finally released from his cage who just keeps walking back and forth where the bars used to be. . . . Friends tell me I’ll get the hang of it.” Succeeding Charles as Book World editor is Stephanie Merry, who was previously a culture reporter for the […]
International News
Penguin Random House Buys Hind Pocket Books in India
Penguin Random House India has acquired Hind Pocket Books, founded in 1958 and “widely considered as pioneer in publishing Hindi and Urdu paperbacks in India,” as the Times of India puts it. PRH India says the acquisition “will build further on [their] presence in local language publishing, to which it has been committed for over a decade,” since Penguin started a Hindi program in 2005. Vaishali Mathur, who has been responsible for Indian language publishing and rights at Penguin Random House India, will now serve as editor-in-chief of Hind Pocket Books, while continuing to build her English language list. Penguin […]
People, Etc.
John Siciliano has been promoted to executive editor for Penguin Books. He continues as executive editor for Penguin Classics. Remy Cawley has joined Nation Books as an assistant editor. Cawley was formerly at Norton. Michelle Obama‘s Facebook page features a video with remarks from her recent appearance at the ALA’s annual conference in New Orleans, talking about her forthcoming book: “It’s a its rehumanization effort…. It’s the ordinariness of a very extraordinary story. I hope that by telling it that it makes others..to feel the pride in their story in the way I feel about mine… I am not a unicorn. […]
Briefs: Oakland’s Laurel Book Store to Close, Arabic Kindle Books, and More
Bookselling Laurel Book Store in downtown Oakland, CA will close in August when their lease expires, as “ongoing sales have not been enough to meet expenses comfortably.” Owner Luan Stauss writes she is “continuing to engage with” potential business partners or buyers. Initiatives Simon & Schuster is launching consumer promotion program, Book Club Favorites, designed to highlight “noteworthy book club titles…from across the company.” Monthly picks will include bestselling authors as well as new voices. Debuting in July, the first title is the paperback edition Alice Hoffman’s The Rules of Magic. Discussion questions and other content will be available on the Book […]
Book Price Discounts Gain in Israel, and Maybe Germany
In time for Hebrew Book Week, Israel’s Culture Minister Miri Regev has decided not to renew the Books and Authors Law, which had regulated book prices and limited discounting since 2014. An advisory committee had concluded that the law drove up book prices and reducing competition. Separately, Germany’s independent Monopolies Commission — an advisory committee with no legislative authority –decided at its “own discretion” to prepare and submit a report to the government recommending “abolishing the statutory rules on fixed book prices.” They advise that a 2016 European Court of Justice ruling blocking fixed prices in Germany for medicinal products establishes […]
Orbach Retakes Chair at Quarto In Surprise Annual Meeting Vote
Quarto co-founder and former chairman and ceo Laurence Orbach restored himself to the publisher’s board and the position of executive chairman in a surprise vote at the company’s annual meeting Thursday. Orbach still controls approximately 20 percent of the company’s shares, and he was supported by 27 percent owner Chuk Kin Lau of Lion Rock Group Limited (a printer that is said to do business with the publisher). Together, they voted to block the reelection to the board of chairman Peter Read, along with Leslie-Ann Reed, Jess Burley and Claire Capeci. Instead, Orbach, Lau, Mei Lan Lam (CFO of Lion Rock), and former […]