Brenda Marsh will become managing director of Abrams & Chronicle Books, the UK-based sales and marketing joint venture of Abrams and Chronicle Books, on June 27. Marsh has been vp, director of business development at Abrams since 2014, after almost 15 years in executive positions at Barnes & Noble. She fills the position vacated by Doug Pocock in March. Abrams ceo Michael Jacobs says in the announcement, “Brenda is a proven leader, an inspirational boss, and a superb mentor as well as a seasoned professional who is admired throughout the publishing industry.” Also in the UK, president of SAGE International Stephen Barr has been […]
Personnel
People, Etc.
Beverly Rykerd has been promoted to vp, director of publicity at Waterbrook Multnomah. In addition Lisa Beech is returning to the company as assistant director of publicity. Most recently she was a publicist at David C. Cook for the last four and a half years, and originally worked at Waterbrook/Multnomah between 2006 and 2008. Zondervan has promoted Jesse Hillman to vp, marketing for the church, academic, reference, and reflective publishing team. Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair’s “Hot Type” columnist for more than twenty years, is bidding the magazine “a fond farewell” to focus more time on her own writing. In the […]
People: Pfuhl to Holtzbrinck In Germany, and More
Joerg Pfuhl will join Holtzbrinck on September 1 as chief executive officer of their German trade publishing group, reporting to John Sargent. Previously Pfuhl was ceo of Verlagsgruppe Random House from 2002 to 2011, and more recently was a professor at the University of Applied Management and held board positions with Edel AG and the Franz Cornelsen Foundation. Sargent said in the announcement: “I have known Joerg since his highly successful tenure as president of Random House in New York, and watched with admiration as he transformed Random House in Germany. He has remarkable skills as a publishing executive, combined with […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Kathleen Schmidt has joined Rodale as associate publisher, Rodale Books, reporting to Gail Gonzales. She was previously vp, marketing and publicity at Running Press, and will oversee the sales, digital product, managing editorial and Rodale Wellness digital content teams. Gonzales said in the announcement: “I’m delighted to welcome Kathleen to Rodale Books. She’s been hugely successful working on the Running Press lines of business. Her well rounded publishing experience in sales, marketing, and publicity will be a great asset to us as we take our business forward in new and exciting directions and connect with even more readers and consumers of […]
People: Katherine Dunn Dies
Katherine Dunn, 70, author of the National Book Award-nominated 1989 novel Geek Love, died Thursday in Portland, OR from complications of lung cancer. Dunn also published two earlier novels as well as an essay collection on boxing, and was at work on her fourth novel upon her death. “Katherine was an enormously talented writer, and an amazing person to be around,” Knopf president and publisher Sonny Mehta said in a statement. “Her interests were always striking to me, and I feel very fortunate to have made her acquaintance upon my arrival in America. Geek Love was one of the first […]
People, Etc.
Orion publishing director Kate Mills will join Harlequin UK later this summer in the newly created role of publishing director of HQ (the rebranded banner for most of Harlequin UK). Mills was at Orion for the past 14 years, and will focus on commercial fiction, including crime, women’s fiction and book club titles. Sarah Mangiola has joined Open Road as senior web editor, books, where she will work on all book-related stories for Open Road’s network of websites, and produce excerpts and book lists. Previously she was an editorial content manager at The Reading Room. Emma Ledbetter has been promoted to […]