Audible is going Hollywood, enlisting a number of accomplished actors–including Annette Bening, Colin Firth, Dustin Hoffman and Kate Winslet–to narrate a new line of audiobooks, featuring many classic works selected by the performers. Scheduled for release beginning in early 2012, the offerings include these pairings: Kim Basinger (The Awakening by Kate Chopin) Annette Bening (Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolfe) Jennifer Connelly (The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles) Colin Firth (The End of the Affair by Graham Greene) Anne Hathaway (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum) Dustin Hoffman (Being There by Jerzy Kosinski) Samuel L. Jackson (A Rage […]
New Imprints
People, Etc.
Ed Park is joining Amazon’s New York-based trade division on October 3 as a senior editor, where he will acquire and edit literary fiction. Park is a founding editor of The Believer, a former editor at the Village Voice and the Poetry Foundation, and author of the novel PERSONAL DAYS (2008). At media relations firm Cave Henricks Communications, Jessica Krakoski has been promoted to associate director of publicity. In addition, Claudia Dizenzo Mueller joins the company as publicity manager (she was at Basic Books) and Kimberly Griggs has been hired as social media coordinator. VP and publicity director Dennis Welch […]
Sourcebooks Establishes New Education Division, and More
Fast-growing Sourcebooks is launching a new education division that will incorporate and extend existing publications and programs for college students and the college-bound with a number of new initiatives. Initial staffing for the division will include six new positions in sales, marketing and information systems, continuing to draw on existing staff in editorial and publicity. The first new hires are: Technical architect Deb Kimminau, responsible for leading the design and development of new digital initiatives, which include MyMaxScore; programmer analyst Kavita Khanna, responsible for updating and implementing new technical requirements for the MyMaxScore adaptive learning software; and education sales manager […]
People, Etc.
Joerg Pfuhl “has decided to leave” his position as ceo of Random House Germany (and member of the Random House executive board) at the end of this year. He first joined Bertelsmann in 1994. Company ceo Markus Dohle says Pfuhl told him “he wanted to devote more time to his family and to his interests in education, consulting, and philanthropic work and give them the same undivided focus he has given the company.” The German unit’s chief operating officer since 2005 Frank Sambeth will take over as ceo January 1. Vintage senior editor Jennifer Jackson has been named senior editor, Knopf and Doubleday. […]
Author Bourdain Gets An Imprint
No Reservations television host and author of Kitchen Confidential and Medium Raw, Anthony Bourdain, will develop an an eponymous line of books with his publisher Ecco, planning on issue three to five books a year. The announcement says he will “acquire books that reflect his remarkably eclectic tastes.” As usual, Bourdain was represented by his agent Kim Witherspoon at Inkwell Management, who negotiated the deal with Ecco president and publisher Daniel Halpern. In the release, Bourdain says, “I’m doing this because…I can. Anyone who loves books, I think, given the opportunity to work with a legendary character like Daniel Halpern, […]
People, Etc.
At Penguin, Molly Barton has been promoted to vp, digital publishing and business development and strategy. Earlier this year she was responsible for launching the writing community website Book Country and was also responsible for developing Penguin eSpecials, expanding the publisher’s relationship with Starz, and spearheading Penguin’s enhanced ebook app program. Meagan Stacey has joined Crown as editor, trade paperbacks, reporting to Tina Pohlman. Previously she was an editor at Mariner Books. Project Gutenberg founder Michael S. Hart died September 6 at his home in Urbana, IL. He was 64 and the cause of death was not disclosed. He is […]