Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio “has decided not to stand for re-election” to the board of directors of GameStop, the company noted in a recent SEC filing. Gamestop says that in fiscal 2010 “medical reasons prevented [Riggio’s] attendance” at a minimum of 75 percent of the board meetings, missing five of 12 meetings in all. “The company said two of those meetings were stacked around the time Riggio had what Barnes & Noble described as a minor medical procedure.” Barnes & Noble indicates Riggio missed the other meetings due to conflicting commitments to other boards. Riggio has been progressively […]
Personnel
People: Lotts, Schelling Open New Agencies
Chris Lotts and Christopher Schelling have left Ralph Vicinanza Ltd to open new agencies. The Lotts Agency will continue Lotts’s representation of commercial fiction and targeted upmarket non-fiction in a mix of domestic and foreign rights, working on behalf of Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Connie Willis, Robert J. Sawyer R. Scott Bakker, Stacia Kane and Lia Hable, among many others. At Schelling’s new shop, Selectric Artists, he will continue with authors like Augusten Burroughs, Cinda Williams Chima, John Elder Robison, Louis Bayard, Kim Stanley Robinson and Haven Kimmel, while also expanding his representation into other media, such […]
People, Etc.: Rosenthal is Blue Rider
David Rosenthal‘s new imprint at Penguin, launching in November, will be called Blue Rider Press. The release informs us: “The Blue Rider, or in German, Der Blaue Reiter, was an iconoclastic movement in music and painting now seen as a driving force of modern art. Established in Munich, Germany in 1911, The Blue Rider was a loose association of painters determined to promote individual expression and break free of any conventional artistic restraints.” Among the newly-announced authors for the line are Senator George McGovern’s What It Means To Be A Democrat and a parody, Goodnight iPad, for this fall, and New York […]
People: Davidar Starts New Publishing House in India, and More
Former Penguin Canada publisher David Davidar, who left the company and the country under a cloud of controversy after sexual harassment allegations, has joined forces with Rupa Publications India to start a new publishing house, the Aleph Book Company. The new venture will begin with a small and select group of fiction and non-fiction titles (evidently mirroring Faber and Faber in the UK.) Said Davidar in a statement: “I am thrilled to join hands with Rupa to launch this venture. We will be looking be ensure that each book we publish makes its mark and to that any title that […]
People, Etc.
SVP and chief accounting officer for Scholastic John Giraldo will leave the company on June 1 for a new position, according to an SEC filing Thursday afternoon. Current evp and cfo Maureen O’Connell will take on Giraldo’s duties until a replacement is found. Bloomsbury associate publisher Sabrina Farber will leave the company at the end of this month. She has worked there since 2003. Longtime ABA staff member Mark Nichols‘ title has changed from industry relations officer to Development Officer. “The change was made to better reflect Nichols’ role in the association.” The ABA and On Demand Books have entered […]
People, Etc.
Literary agent Wendy Lipkind passed away on May 9 from cancer at the age of 68. She founded the Wendy Lipkind Literary Agency in 1977, representing a diverse group of non-fiction writers including Ross Greene, Barry Sears, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein and Constance Hale. A private funeral will be held on Friday May 13, and donations in Wendy’s memory may be made to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids or The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. She is survived by her husband, Hillel Black, and her son, Harry Black. Legacy.com guestbook Abby Levine will retire in June after 28 years of […]