Penguin Publishing Group president Madeline McIntosh has closed another of the group’s publishing lines, writing to staff that she had “made the difficult decision to discontinue Blue Rider Press as a standalone imprint.” President and publisher David Rosenthal, who came to Penguin in early 2011 to create the imprint, and associate publisher Aileen Boyle, who joined Rosenthal after a few months to help build the line, are both “leaving the company in the coming months.” Current and forthcoming Blue Rider titles will be published by Dutton, which was combined with other lines and made part of Putnam Dutton in early […]
New Imprints
People, Etc.
Former publishing executive Dick McCullough, 67, died last week following a battle with brain tumors. Mike Shatzkin has posted a testimonial to “the best leader I ever met in the corporate world.” He notes: “Dick was not an unconventional person, but he loved eccentricity in other people. He wasn’t a brilliant thinker, but he gravitated to people who were. He learned from everybody. He respected everybody. He was relentlessly fair….He inspired us all to be better people. He inspired us all to have a generous spirit. He valued hard work, but he also valued a good time. I have never […]
Penguin Workshop Imprint for Kids Starts This Fall
Penguin Children’s will launch a new imprint this fall, Penguin Workshop, run by president and publisher of Grosset & Dunlap and Warne, Francesco Sedita. The new line will publish “new voices and established brands for readers ages birth to 12.” He says in the announcement, “Penguin Workshop is a laboratory for cultivating unique, new ideas. This has been my dream since I started at Penguin. I was an extremely reluctant reader as a child, and it’s my goal to make books that make readers. To make books that make readers smile. And sometimes, to make readers hug their books.” The […]
Briefs: Ferguson to Holiday House, Grisham on Tour, and More
Margaret Ferguson will join Holiday House Publishing in May as publisher of a Margaret Ferguson Books imprint, reporting to editor-in-chief Mary Cash. It’s the first time Holiday House has created an eponymous imprint. Ferguson was publisher of a Margaret Ferguson Books at Farrar, Straus Children’s. Ferguson says in the announcement, “This is a wonderful and unique opportunity for me to be involved with a small publishing house that is on the move and expanding their publishing program in interesting ways.” Chris Kepner has launched The Kepner Agency, after nine years with Victoria Sanders & Associates as an agent and director of international […]
International: Obamas’ French Publisher, New Harlequin Line, and Awards
Hachette Livre’s Fayard became the first publisher outside of the Penguin Random House family to announce that it has licensed rights, in France, to the forthcoming books by former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama. They also publish Hillary Clinton in French. Harlequin announced the launch of Harlequin Dare, a romance series “featuring strong, independent women” in “highly explicit encounters,” which will start publishing in January 2018. Harlequin is acquiring for line from their offices in London, New York and Toronto and will publish four titles a month — in both print and ebook form in the UK and Australia, and […]
People, Etc.
At Chronicle Books, AiLing Tjan has been promoted to accounting supervisor, while Barrett Hooper is now senior financial analyst and Christina Mott moves up to distribution client account manager. Ingram Content Group has tapped poetry writer and bookseller Stephen Sparks to launch a poetry newsletter called Little Infinite. Sparks owns Point Reyes Bookshop in Pt. Reyes, CA, and has contributed to a number of literary outlets including the Paris Review Daily, Tin House, Music & Literature magazine, BOMB and Lithub. Imprints Bonnier Publishing is expanding their Igloo Books mass market line, setting up a US version, led by Jeremy Nurnberg, now director of sales, North America […]