In the UK, literary agent Toby Eady died on December 24. David Higham Associates, which acquired Eady’s agency in 2015, noted in a statement, “With great sadness we have to announce the death of our colleague, Toby Eady. Toby was a maverick, a passionate champion of his authors and advocate of their work.” He started Toby Eady Associates in 1968, and Bernard Cornwall was his first client. Self-published hit Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls has become the focus of complaints for featuring Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi as one its 100 great women. As British Labor MP and shadow justice minister […]
Obits
Briefs
Harassment Files Both Target and Walmart said that they will drop Mario Batali‘s products — including his cookbooks — from their stores following extensive accusations of sexual harassment. ABC officially fired Batali from their show “The Chew,” and the Food Network dropped plans to create new episodes of his earlier TV show,”Molto Mario.” On Friday, Batali apologized again in his newsletter: “I have made many mistakes and I am so very sorry that I have disappointed my friends, my family, my fans and my team. My behavior was wrong and there are no excuses.” Bookselling Well-known indie That Bookstore in Blytheville […]
People, Etc.
At Ten Speed Press, Kaitlin Ketchum has been promoted to senior editor. Georgia Bodnar has been promoted to associate editor at Viking. Natalie Hallak has been promoted to assistant editor at Park Row Books and Hanover Square Press. Alyssa Awe has been promoted to senior vice president, strategic operations and projects for Penguin Random House. At Simon & Schuster Audio, Elisa Shokoff has been promoted to vice president, executive producer; Sarah Lieberman has been promoted to vice president, associate publisher; Lauren Pires has been promoted to assistant director of marketing and publicity. Charlton Villavelez has been promoted to production coordinator for Simon […]
Briefs: Awards, And More
Awards The UK’s Goldsmiths prize for fiction “that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel” has gone to Nicola Barker for novel H(a)ppy (Heinemann). Retailer WH Smith picked Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman as their fiction book of the year, with The Little Big Things by Henry Fraser as their nonfiction book of the year. Canada’s Writers’ Trust literary awards were presented, with winners including Brother by David Chariandy for fiction, and Life on the Ground Floor: Letters from the Edge of Emergency Medicine by James Maskalyk for nonfiction. The Jewish Book Council’s Natan Book Award, a […]
People, Etc.
John Kulka has been hired as editorial director for Library of America, taking over from Geoffrey O’Brien, who will retire at the end of 2017. Currently executive editor at Basic, he has worked for Barnes & Noble, Yale University Press, and Harvard University Press, and has served on the boards of the Dalkey Archive Press and the David Charles Horn Foundation, which supports the Yale Drama Series. Publisher Max Rudin said in the announcement, “John’s broad and deep knowledge of American writing, his experience on both the publishing and bookselling sides, and his career-long dedication to quality, make him the […]
People, Etc.
Lauren Adams has been promoted to senior marketing manager of licensed and proprietary brands marketing for Random House Children’s. Kate Hutchison joins BookShout as director of business development and publisher relations. Most recently she worked for the startups Litsy and Bookstr. LitHub’s latest “interview with a gatekeeper” features Colin Dickerman. On why being an editor is the best job: “Because I feel like it engages so many different ways of thinking. You’re reading something critically, you’re negotiating a contract, there’s a social aspect to it…you’re going out and meeting people. And there is the very intense relationship with an author, which […]