Ellen V. LiBretto, 66, passed away May 4, after a brief illness. She was a library marketing manager for Ballantine, where she worked with such authors as Ray Bradbury, Elizabeth Berg, Anne Perry, and Colin Powell, and later consulted on library marketing for several independent publishers. Prior to joining Ballantine, LiBretto held managerial positions in New York City libraries. She was also the author of books including High/Low Handbook: Best Books and Web Sites for Reluctant Teen Readers. Among those let go from the New York Daily News in the newspaper’s newest round of layoffs was editorial writer Alexander Nazaryan, also editor of […]
Personnel
People: Twelve Adds An Editorial Director, As Does Knopf, and More
Following Deb Futter’s appointment as publisher of Grand Central’s Twelve imprint in April, Sean Desmond will join the line in the new position of editorial director, starting May 28. He is currently an executive editor at Crown. Futter says in the announcement, “When I became Publisher of Twelve, my first order of business was to hire a top-notch editorial director who would work with me to define the next era at Twelve. In Sean Desmond, I could not have found a more perfect fit in terms of acquisitions and vision.” Knopf announced two editorial promotions, both effective immediately. Robin Desser […]
People, Etc.
Robin Wolfson has been named to the new position of vp, Random House Speakers Bureau, assuming central leadership of the five-year-old division, which has been managed in decentralized fashion up until now, with multiple divisional directors for the company’s different publishing groups. Wolfson’s primary responsibilities are strategic oversight and business development; those divisional directors will continue to report within their groups. Pete Beatty will join Open Road on May 28 as acquisitions director, reporting to Tina Pohlman. He was senior editor at Bloomsbury Press. Beatty is taking over for Stephanie Gorton, who is leaving to pursue a creative nonfiction MFA and will continue […]
Awards and More
Benjamin Alire Saenz, 58, became the first Latino writer to win the PEN/Faulkner Fiction Prize on Saturday, for EVERYTHING BEGINS AND ENDS AT THE KENTUCKY CLUB. Published by Cinco Puntos, it’s a collection of seven loosely linked stories. After putting Charlie Lovett‘s forthcoming THE BOOKMAN’S TALE: A Novel of Obsession on their Best Books of May list last week, now Barnes & Noble has made the book their latest B&N Recommends selection. HCI’s former licensing and subsidiary rights director Christian Blonshine has been named executive vice president. Brenda Knight has moved up to publisher of both Cleis Press and Viva […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Longtime Author Solutions ceo Kevin Weiss is leaving the company for a new position (to be announced separately next week). President of Penguin International Andrew Phillips is taking over as ceo of Author Solutions, which Penguin acquired last July. Phillips led the launch of Partridge, the Penguin Author Solutions partnership in India. Penguin chairman and ceo John Makinson said in the announcement: “This is a bitter-sweet announcement because we shall be sorry to lose Kevin, who has provided the stability and clear leadership that Author Solutions needed in the year after our acquisition. But I always recognised that Kevin would seek […]
People, Etc.
As part of an expansion of HarperCollins’ global publishing program, Karen Davies has been appointed affiliate publisher of HarperCollins 360, working with the sales teams on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure the distribution, marketing, publicity and sales of Harper US books into the UK marketplace. “We are committed to ensuring that all books published by any division of HarperCollins around the world are available in print or digital format in all English-language markets,” said president and group publisher for the US and Canada Michael Morrison. “We see this as a great opportunity for our authors.” HarperCollins UK ceo […]