Agent Laurie McLean has left Larsen Pomada after 8 years and formed Foreword Literary, in partnership with former Larsen Pomada colleague Pam van Hylckama Vlieg and Gordon Warnock, who was an agent at Andrea Hurst & Associates. They are joined by assistant agents Danielle Smith and Jen Karsbaek. Foreword Literary will be a “virtual agency,” with professionals in the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento, Chicago and the central coast of California to start. The agency aims to “blend the knowledge and skills of traditional publishing with the brash new opportunities engendered by digital publishing, self-publishing, ebooks, and technology. NYT bestselling YA fantasy author Julie […]
Personnel
People, Awards, Etc.: Thoma, DiMona Join Writers House
Writers House announced that Geri Thoma and Lisa DiMona have joined the agency. Thoma, who joins on March 18, was previously partner at Markson Thoma, while DiMona, who will start on April 8, was founder and sole proprietor of Lark Productions, a literary agency and book development company established in 1998. “We are delighted that Geri and Lisa are joining our growing team of agents. Their expertise in nonfiction will complement our list and enlarge the scope of the agency,” said Writers House chairman Amy Berkower in a statement. In addition, Stephen Barr was recently promoted to senior agent, while […]
People, Etc.
Kevin Powers won the PEN/Hemingway Award for his debut novel THE YELLOW BIRDS. He will receive his award at a ceremony at the JFK Presidential Library & Museum on March 24. In the UK, Tesco has hired Gavin Sathianathan to head their ebook portion of their blinkbox digital media offer, to launch later this year. Tesco had purchased Mobcast last September as the foundation of their ebook program. They will offer digital books, music and movies under the blinkbox name. Currently working at Facebook, Sathianathan had worked as an intern at the previous incarnation of blinkbox (a streaming video company). […]
People, Etc.
At HMH Children’s, Mary Wilcox has been promoted to the newly-created position of vp, editor in chief. In addition, Adah Nuchi has been promoted to associate editor. At McIntosh & Otis. Shira Hoffman has been promoted to director of subsidiary rights, representing the agency’s extensive backlist of adult titles as well as for Louisiana State University Press and the University of Nebraska Press, while continuing to grow her own list. In addition, Christa Heschke has been promoted to agent within the children’s department, handling all foreign, domestic and subsidiary rights for children’s clients while actively building her own list. The […]
People, Etc.
At today’s annual meeting of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy formally took over from Cengage executive chairman Ron Dunn as chair of the organization’s board of directors. In the UK, Jo Unwin will join Doubleday UK as deputy publisher on April 8, reporting to Marianne Velmans. Unwin was previously an agent at Conville & Walsh, which announced it sold a 50 percent stake in its business to Curtis Brown (see separate story). Catherine Burke has been promoted to publisher, Sphere fiction at Little, Brown UK. At Penguin, Suzie Sisoler has been promoted to senior director […]
People, Etc.
Michele Martin will join the Gallery Books Group on March 4 as vp, associate publisher, reporting to Louise Burke. Previously she was founder and proprietor of MDM Management, which will now be assumed by CSG Literary Partners, and before that she held executive positions at Avalon, Langenscheidt and Doubleday, where she created and oversaw the Main Street Books imprint. At Penguin, Katherine Tiernan McCahill has been promoted to assistant director of the digital products group. In Canada, former senior executives at D&M Publishers Chris Labonte, Peter Cocking and Richard Nadeau have founded Figure1 Publishing, devoted to books in the art […]