Niko Pfund has been named president of Oxford University Press USA, where he has served as acting president since December 2010, continuing to serve as academic publisher as well. Interim editor of Newsweek Steve Koepp is returing to Time (where he had been deputy managing editor of Time magazine and executive editor of Fortune) to become editorial director of Time Home Entertainment, the company’s book and bookazine division. He will oversee the development of books, both print and digital, for all the magazine publisher’s news group, style & entertainment and LIFE brands. University of North Carolina Press is promoting senior […]
Personnel
People, Etc.
Michael Barber has joined Pearson in the newly created position of chief executive adviser, reporting to Marjorie Scardino. Barber is currently a partner at McKinsey & Company and head of its global education practice. John Bond is leaving HarperCollins UK at the end of June by “mutual agreement.” Bond was managing director of Press Books, which will now be run by ceo Victoria Barnsley, assisted by special projects director Katie Fulford, until a replacement is found. Thomas Nelson Gift & Children’s division has announced a number of new hires. Jennifer Barrow joins as editor, Micah Walker moves up to assistant […]
People, Etc.
Wendy Wolf has been named vp, associate publisher of Viking, where she has worked since 1994. She will continue as editorial director of non-fiction as well. Keith Richards’ LIFE (Hachette Audio) won Audiobook of the Year at the 2011 Audies, given out last night by the Audio Publishers Association. Full List Ned Beauman, Stephen Kelman, and Anjali Joseph were shortlisted for the 2011 Desmond Elliot Prize for first novel published in the UK. The winner will be announced on June 23. Starting this month, AudioGO has partnered with Soho Press to release up to 12 audiobook titles a year from […]
People: Grann to Retire; Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency Opens; and More
After more than 40 years in publishing, and more than 10 years with Doubleday, editor-at-large Phyllis Grann will retire from the company on June 9. “Phyllis is among the towering figures who have shaped book publishing,” said Knopf chairman Sonny Mehta in a statement. “We know her as a brilliant editor and savvy businesswoman, but more important, in my view, is the role she has played as a confidant and mentor to many in our industry. I certainly have learned a great deal from her.” Grann says, “as much as I have enjoyed the work, I now feel it is time […]
Larry Kirshbaum to Lead New Amazon Publishing Operation In New York
Amazon announced to a group of agents Sunday night that Larry Kirshbaum will leave agenting and return to publishing, serving as vp and publisher for Amazon Publishing’s New York office, effective immediately (officially starting July 5). Kirshbaum, who celebrates his birthday on Monday, says “On my sixty-seventh birthday, I’m reinventing myself.” Reporting to Amazon’s Jeff Belle, Kirshbaum is charged with building something that will look like a general trade publisher, with “a specific focus on non-fiction, but also literary fiction,” Belle says, since Amazon has already been rolling out other imprints focused on genre fiction. In the note to agents, […]
People, Etc.
Karen Ball is joining the Steve Laube Agency. For nearly 30 years she has worked on successful fiction lines at Tyndale, Multnomah, Zondervan, and, most recently, the B&H Publishing Group, where she was an executive editor. She will work from her office in Oregon. Publishing veteran Elizabeth Van Doren joined Highlights for Children and Boyds Mills Press as executive editor, book publishing. At Vintage UK, Victoria Murray-Browne has been named editor and Kate Watson joins as press officer. Previously Murray-Browne was an editor at John Murray and Watson was acting press officer at Dorling Kindersley.