Dana Li has joined Catapult/Counterpoint as designer. She was previously at Penguin Children’s. Deirdre Bair, 84, who won the 1981 National Book Award for Samuel Beckett: A Biography, died on Friday in her home in New Haven, CT of heart failure. Awards The UK Women’s Prize announced its shortlist. (As a reminder, they postponed naming the winner until until September 9.): Dominicana, by Angie Cruz (Flatiron/John Murray) Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo (Grove/Hamish Hamilton) A Thousand Ships, by Natalie Haynes (Mantle) The Mirror and the Light, by Hilary Mantel (Holt/Fourth Estate) Hamnet, by Maggie O’ Farrell (Knopf/Headline) Weather, by Jenny […]
Personnel
People, Etc.: Bob Loomis Dies at 93, Brody Promoted at HMH
Renowned former Random House editor Bob Loomis died Sunday at 93, following a fall. RH Publishing Group Gina Centrello calls him, “One of the greatest editors Random House, and our industry, has ever known.” She noted, “I was just one of many who adored and learned from Bob, who inspired several generations of editors and publishers. His values and work ethic are permanently embedded in the Random House DNA.” Loomis retired from Random House in 2011 after spending almost 55 years at the house. The NYT notes, “Loomis likened editing to a quasi-religious function. ‘You have to turn your collar […]
People, Etc.
Hannah Allaman has joined Delacorte as associate editor. She was previously assistant editor at Disney-Hyperion. At the University of Texas Press, Robert Devens has been promoted from assistant director to director. Since joining the press in 2013, they say Devens “led the editorial department toward greater successes in its many core areas — from the establishment of new series in fields ranging from Latinx studies to film studies, to more extensive general interest offerings in areas such as biography and music.” Awards The International Booker Prize has postponed the announcement of this year’s winner, set for May 19. They are […]
People, Etc.
Robb Pearlman has joined Smart Pop Books as editor-in-chief. He was previously associate publisher at Rizzoli. Chilean author Luis Sepulveda, who lived in Spain after being exiled by Augusto Pinochet in the 1980s, died on Thursday from Covid-19. He first contracted the disease at the Correntes d’Escritas festival in February. Awards Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo won the Aspen Words Literary Prize. Cancelled Bouchercon 2020, planned for October 15-18 in Sacramento has been cancelled “out of an abundance of caution and concern for the health and safety of our community.” The organizers write in a statement, “We have no […]
Briefs
At Canongate, Andrea Joyce has stepped down as rights director after 13 years with the company. Jessica Neale succeeds her as rights and contracts director. Forthcoming Penguin Random House will publish a digital cookbook on May 5 to benefit restaurants and their workers, priced at $5.99, FAMILY MEAL: Recipes from Our Community. It features over 40 recipes by chefs and home cooks who publish with PRH imprint, covering what they are cooking and drinking at home right now, and all proceeds will benefit the RWCF COVID 19 Crisis Relief Fund. It includes a foreword from Restaurant Workers’ Community Fund co-founder […]
People: Nichols to Join Little, Brown As Publisher
Longtime svp and publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Bruce Nichols will join Little, Brown as svp and publisher on May 4. He will report to ceo Michael Pietsch and join HBG’s executive management board. Nichols, who started his publishing career at Little, Brown in the company’s former College Publishing division, says in the announcement, “I have long admired the range and strengths of the publishing program at Little, Brown, its enormously talented staff, and the spectacular writers they have brought into the world. Continuing their remarkable programs, and finding new opportunities for growth and innovation, is the challenge of a […]