Jandra Sutton has left Turner Publishing, where she was the head of marketing, to pursue freelance work in marketing, social media strategy, and publicity. She can be reached at contact@jandralee.com. The James Tait Black Prizes have been awarded to Jim Crace for his novel HARVEST and to Hermoine Lee for her biography PENELOPE FITZGERALD: A Life. John P. Vallier Sr., 88, a longtime Simon & Schuster executive, died August 18. He joined S&S in 1958 and retired in 1992 as vp, regional sales. One of the few Hachette titles kept its Amazon discount throughout the ongoing dispute between the two […]
Obits
People
Amazon Publishing announced a number of new hires across various editorial lines. Eoin Purcell will join the company to lead its London editorial office as of September 15. Previously he was editorial director of New Island Books in Dublin. Tara Parsons joined the New York office in July as editorial director, fiction, including Little A and the Day One literary journal. Previously she was editorial director at MIRA. Merideth Mulroney has been named art director for the NY-based imprints, including Two Lions picture books. Finally, Adrienne Lombardo will join the company on September 1 as an acquisition editor for 47North. […]
People, Etc.
Jason Weidemann has been promoted to editorial director of University of Minnesota Press. He succeeds Richard Morrison, who left after fifteen years at UMP to become editorial director at Fordham University Press last month. At Macmillan, Krista Loercher has been promoted to director, Amazon sales. Sam Caggiula has joined Skyhorse as senior publicity manager. Previously he was a publicist at Rowman & Littlefield. Former Bertelsmann executive Richard Sarnoff has been named head of KKR & Co.’s Americas media and telecoms team, as well as a managing director of KKR. Sarnoff, a former co-chairman of Bertelsmann’s U.S. division, has been a […]
People, Etc.
Lance Fitzgerald will join the Crown Publishing Group as vp, director of subsidiary rights on August 4. Previously he was director of subsidiary rights at Simon & Schuster. Succeeding Fitzgerald at S&S is Marie Florio, who has been promoted to director, subsidiary rights, overseeing rights for all books within the Simon & Schuster imprint as well as select Threshold titles. Riverhead director of publicity Jynne Martin will take on the additional role of associate publisher, joining Kate Stark and Catherine Lynch. The new title for Martin, who joined Riverhead in 2011, “recognizes the role she has taken on beyond being […]
People, Etc.
Start-up BitLit has announced a pilot program with Harper Collins. The publisher is testing the app that provides a discounted ebook as a bundled offer to a proven print book purchaser or owner on 6 titles for now (Halfway to the Grave, by Jeaniene Frost, Black Magic Sanction, by Kim Harrison, Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson, Wicked, by Gregory Maguire, The Success Principles by Jack Canfield, and 15 Seconds by Andrew Gross). In personnel news, at Harper Collins, Erin Gorham has been promoted to director, digital accounts, while Lindsey Kline has been promoted to digital sales specialist. Colleen Venable will join Workman […]
People: Nadine Gordimer Dies
Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, 90, died at home in Johannesburg. Gordimer won the Booker in 1974 and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 2002, along with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. Jamil Ahmad, 83, author of THE WANDERING FALCON, died at his home in Islamabad after a long illness. Ahmad’s debut novel was published in 2011 when he was 79 after being excerpted in the “Pakistan” issue of Granta. At St Martin’s, Nancy Trypuc has been promoted to vp, creative services. Jerry Bilek will join the Minnesota Historical Society Press as sales manager on August 1. Bilek is the owner of Monkey […]