Liz Kossnar has been promoted to associate editor at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. Jordan Hamessley has joined Insight Editions as senior editor, children’s. She was previously editorial director for Adaptive Books. Sanford J. Greenburger Associates are now scouting for Shandong Jiabo. Poet, essayist, and novelist Michelle Cliff, 69, died June 12 in Santa Cruz from liver failure. Awards Sarah Crossan‘s novel-in-verse One has won the Carnegie Medal, the first children’s book in that format to win the award, while Chris Riddle has won the Greenaway Medal for the third time for illustrating The Sleeper and the Spindle […]
International News
Hachette UK Acquires Neon Play
Hachette UK announced they have acquired Neon Play, a British-based mobile games development company. Co-owners Oli Christie, Mark Allen and their team will continue to be based in Cirencester running Neon Play as a stand-alone business under the Hachette UK umbrella, reporting to Richard Kitson. Hachette UK ceo Tim Hely Hutchinson and executives Kitson and Pierre de Cacqueray will join the board of Neon Play. Terms of the deal were undisclosed but Hutchinson told the Bookseller it was a “substantial acquisition designed to lead to substantial revenues”, and was also a “serious first step” for Hachette in a bid to […]
People
Erica Rand Silverman will join Stimola Literary Studio as a senior agent on July 1 after eight years at Sterling Lord Literistic. She will continue to represent children’s literature, picture books through YA, and the occasional adult nonfiction in the areas of parenting, humor and wellness. Patrick Walsh is leaving Conville & Walsh (now owned by Curtis Brown UK) to start PEW Literary Agency. Conville and Walsh will continue to represent foreign rights to Walsh’s authors, and Curtis Brown UK will continue to sell film/tv rights for the new agency. Walsh says: “I have loved working with the team at Curtis […]
Bookselling: Indigo’s New Concept Store, Half-Price for Georgia
On Friday dominant Canadian bookselling chain Indigo will hold a grand opening for their new concept store in Toronto’s Sherway Gardens, the chain’s first new store in over 5 years and a model for ambitious renovation plans that “will be rolled out over time to the company’s 90 other book superstores,” ceo Heather Reisman told the Financial Post. The press release describes it as a “cultural department store for booklovers and their friends,” with “a cross-section of shops-within-a-shop filled with an unparalleled selection of books and beautiful, affordable lifestyle products, all merchandized to inspire and delight.” Books comprise about 60 […]
People, Etc.
Berlin-based digital publisher Frisch & Co., which has published 13 books in translation, will become an imprint of UK-based Canelo as of June. Publishing director Michael Bhaskar says in the announcement, “We want to take these wonderful, original, eclectic, innovative voices to the wide English speaking audience they deserve.” Author of over 50 English-set historical romances, Jo Beverley died May 23 in Yorkshire, England. She was a five-time Rita Award winner, a member of the RWA Hall of Fame and RWA Honor Roll, and recipient of two Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times. The Target Book Club pick for June is The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler.
Waterstones Exits eBooks and Digital Audio; Transfers Customers to Kobo
Waterstones is giving up on ebooks again and — perhaps more importantly in the long-term, also walking away from the still-growing digital audio market. The company told their digital media customers by email and posted site notice that “the Waterstones digital download store is closing,” and digital files are no longer available for sale on their web site. Customers who purchased ebooks are having their libraries transferred to Kobo, as of June 14. Digital audio customers are being abandoned in full; their only recourse is to “please ensure that all the MP3s in your library are downloaded to your chosen […]