Owner of former Pittsburgh bookstore Jay’s Book Stall (opened in 1959, closed in 2008) Jay Dantry, 87, died on Sunday after a long illness. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes, “Under his guidance, Jay’s Book Stall became one of the premier bookstores in the country, a mandatory stop in Pittsburgh for touring writers.” Michael Chabon adds, “I’ll always be grateful to him for the year I spent working at the Book Stall…. The staff wasn’t like a family, it was a family.” Former literary agent Peter Janson-Smith, 93, has died. He worked for A D Peters and Curtis Brown UK before setting up […]
Personnel
People, Etc.
At Counterpoint/Soft Skull, Megan Fishmann has been promoted to director of publicity and marketing. Etinosa Agbonlahor has been promoted to assistant editor at Touchstone. At Knopf, Katie Schoder has been promoted to publicist. At Howard Books, Brandi Lewis has been promoted to senior marketing manager. In the UK, Alex Bowler is leaving Jonathan Cape to join Granta Books as publishing director in July.
People, Etc.
Dominique Cimina has been promoted to vp, executive director, publicity and corporate communications at Random House Children’s Books. Bess Braswell has joined Harper Children’s as senior director, marketing. She was most recently director of marketing for Teen, Middle Grade, Graphix, and Audio at Scholastic. At Touchstone, Meredith Vilarello has been promoted to associate marketing director. At Simon & Schuster, Christina Pecorale has been promoted to vp, director children’s sales. Cayla Rasi will join Random House Children’s as senior marketing manager, digital. Cayla previously worked at Deep Focus agency. The ABA confirmed the election of the four nominated board members; Kris Kleindienst of Left Bank […]
People, Etc.
Alaina Mauro has joined Little, Brown as publishing director, James Patterson. Previously she was a digital sales account manager at Penguin Children’s. Daniella Valladares will join Little, Brown Children’s as assistant editor, brand, licensed, and media tie-in publishing. She was most recently an assistant editor at HarperCollins. Sarah Williams has joined Penguin Random House as vp, director, strategy & development, special markets. Previously she was executive editor, business development at Chronicle Books. Diana Ventimiglia has joined North Star Way as editor. Most recently she was an editor at Sterling Publishing, where she focused on the culinary, mind/body/spirit, lifestyle, health, and pop […]
Ingram Makes Distribution Appointments
Perseus Distribution clients received a long memo on Monday with details on the management structure for what is now the largest independent distribution network. Signed by Ingram’s Phil Ollila and Mark Ouimet and Perseus’s Sabrina McCarthy, they note: “Because this is such a large distribution company one of the things we are thinking about is how to take advantage of the scale of Ingram while making sure that our clients continue to get the service they expect from the distribution companies. With this in mind, our structure for the future is going to rely on the development and continuation of […]
People, Etc.
Heather Jackson is leaving Harmony to become a literary agent, joining the David Black Agency on May 2. She will focus on commercial nonfiction and fiction, popular culture, and fresh narrative voices that inform, entertain, and shift the cultural conversation. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Stephanie Fletcher has been promoted to editor, culinary/lifestyle. In addition, Tim Mudie moves up to associate editor, and Pilar Garcia-Brown has been promoted to editorial associate. Beth Collins was promoted production manager at Beacon Press, and Daniel Barks was promoted to reprint and digital production manager. Founder of Clarion Books and author of nonfiction for young readers Jim Giblin died […]