John Murray managing director Roland Philipps will leave his position at the end of the year, after 22 years at Hodder & Stoughton. Murray will work as consultant, and focus on his own writing. In Germany, Nora Mercurio will be promoted to director of rights and foreign rights department at Suhrkamp and Insel, where she has worked since 2006. Current director Dr. Petra Hardt wanted to transfer leadership of the department, the company reports, but will remain part of the unit.
Personnel
People
Gail Brussel has joined Penguin Press as publicity manager. Most recently ran her own PR company, Gail Brussel Book Publicity. In addition, Juliana Kiyan has been promoted to assistant publicity director. As we reported last month, Kate Childs left her position as director of Special events and event partnerships at Random House to join CAA. The agency has now officially explained that Childs takes the “newly-created position within the books department to create unique live events for client book releases. She will “work in collaboration with publishing houses to develop strategic programming in support of a book launch that expands upon a […]
Barnes & Noble Hires A COO While They’re Supposed to be Looking for A CEO
Barnes & Noble announced on Monday afternoon that they hired Demos Parneros, 54, as chief operating officer, reporting to Len Riggio, who is now referred to as “chairman and CEO of Barnes & Noble.” Parneros “will work closely with Mr. Riggio on all aspects of company operations including stores, merchandising, e-Commerce, systems and real estate.” He was president, North American stores & online for Staples until late 2012 (so as with the fired ceo Ron Boire, who came to BN from Sears Canada, they are looking to another non-book bricks and mortar retailer). He is a member of the board at Keycorp, […]
People
Kelly Joseph will join McClelland & Stewart on December 5 in the newly-created position of publishing manager, reporting to Jared Bland. In her new role, Joseph will will undertake the development of a new publishing initiative for fiction in translation, and take on administration of the division’s poetry program. Joseph spent the past eight years at House of Anansi Press, serving most recently as managing editor, and helped develop their French-language imprint Arachnide. In addition, M&S senior editor Jenny Bradshaw will now report to Bland, working closely with him and Martha Kanya-Forstner to shape the non-fiction program. Obituaries Simon & Schuster […]
People, Etc.
At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Audrey Gibbons has been promoted to senior publicist. Recipients were announced for the second round of $1.75 million in grants that James Patterson is providing to school libraries across the country, working in partnerships with Scholastic Reading Club, which matches the grants with points for classroom materials purchases. 452 schools are receiving funds from the latest grants. Patterson says in the announcement: “We’ve just come out of the most divisive presidential election in history—and among all the issues that captivated voters, education wasn’t one of them. It was hardly discussed. Nearly half of the American […]
People: Besser and Borland Promoted
At Putnam Children’s, publisher Jen Besser has been promoted to president as well, reporting to Penguin Children’s president Jen Loja — who writes that Besser “has continually wowed us with her keen publishing sensibility, and her ability to find the best books for every kind of reader.” Loja adds, “Her perfect balance of believing in what she does deeply but also being able to see the fun and the humor in what we all do, not only makes her a valuable leader, but also a delight to have in the senior management of the group.” At Atria Books and Washington Square Press, […]