Penguin Random House has announced a new “evolved” global corporate logo (left), featuring the Penguin icon. CEO Nihar Malaviya said, “Brands matter today more than ever, and while our authors and imprints will always be at the heart of our business, the Penguin Random House brand and our mission to create books for everyone are what inspire and unite us. The stronger our brand, the more deeply we can connect with our readers.”
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Open Road Launches Podcast With Industry Leaders
Open Road Integrated Media has launched a podcast, “Open Book,” hosted by CEO and National Book Foundation board chair David Steinberger. The podcast repurposes lunchtime conversations that Open Road has been holding for employees at their offices. The first two episodes feature Grove Atlantic publisher Morgan Entrekin and former Pantheon publisher Lisa Lucas, and future guests will include Macmillan CEO Jonathan Yaged, Penguin Publishing Group president Allison Dobson, Authors Equity CEO Madeline McIntosh, City Lights bookstore chief buyer Paul Yamazaki, 37ink publisher and former Bon Appetit editor-in-chief Dawn Davis, literary agent and Writers House president Simon Lipskar, and writer Ted […]
Former Hachette UK Executive Doyle Files Discrimination Complaint
Ursula Doyle, former publisher of Hachette UK’s Fleet imprint, has filed a discrimination complaint against the company. On a fundraising page for legal fees, Doyle explains that she resigned after facing online harassment from colleagues for publishing Kathleen Stock’s 2020 “gender critical” book Material Girls. Doyle writes that she was a “target for abuse by colleagues in the book industry, who have used social media to accuse me of – among other things – bigotry, prejudice, transphobia and hatred, often tagging in my employer, Hachette, and Hachette’s Pride network.” According to Doyle, a hearing will take place in August. Doyle […]
Reagan Arthur To Return To HBG to Lead New Imprint
Reagan Arthur is returning to Hachette Book Group on September 23 as svp, publisher, where she will launch a new imprint within the Grand Central Publishing group that will be “broad in scope, publishing literary and commercial authors, but with a focused list of four to six titles per year.” Arthur left Knopf in May due to a group restructure. In her new role, she will collaborate with Hachette UK sister imprint Sceptre, working with executive publisher Federico Andornino to co-publish select titles. She will also “edit key authors across HBG’s publishing divisions” and reports to ceo David Shelley. Additionally, […]
Neil Gaiman Accused of Sexual Assault
Neil Gaiman was accused of sexual assault by two women “with whom he was in consensual relationships” on a podcast put out by Tortoise Media in New Zealand. Gaiman “strongly denies any allegations of non-consensual sex with the women.” One woman, who “alleges that Gaiman sexually assaulted her within hours of their first meeting” at his New Zealand home, where she worked as a nanny to his child, is reported to have filed a complaint to New Zealand police in October 2022. New Zealand police told Tortoise it made a “number of attempts to speak to key people as part […]
Agent Fired By KT Literary Over Twitter Posts
Hilary Harwell, an agent at KT Literary, has been fired following a Twitter controversy involving a post she made about a query she had received. On June 23, Harwell posted, “Just read a query that was essentially THE ROAD meets DELIVERANCE (#YA) and now I want someone to write this for me please.” She had since deleted her account. Twitter users, including other agents, noted that it’s bad form to receive a query and then publicly request that a different author write the premise. Author Jamie Damato replied, “With respect do you not see how it’s actually kind of insidious […]