The Guardian published their latest list of whom they view as the 100 most powerful people in the UK book industry. We thought it was more interesting to sort their list according to categories (and we left aside authors, broadcasters, and a few other non-trade people). Needless to say, the Guardian still views critics as wielding a lot of influence–while agents look quite low in their estimation: Bookselling 1 Jeff Bezos Founder and CEO of Amazon 4 James Daunt/Alexander Mamut MD, Waterstones/Proprietor, Waterstones 7 Kate Swann CEO, WH Smith 12 Rachel Harcourt and […]
Personnel
People, Etc.
At Oxford University Press, Casper Grathwohl has been promoted to the newly-created position of svp, group strategy, effective October 5. Reporting to CEO Nigel Portwood, Grathwohl will work at Group level and alongside OUP’s business units on a range of activities designed to address OUP’s strategic agenda. Patrick Koors has joined the live events division of Thomas Nelson as vp of marketing. John Ashbery will receive the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and Books & Books co-founder Mitch Kaplan will receive the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community at the 2011 National Book Awards […]
Powell’s Reorganizes Management As Eight Executives Depart
Powell’s Books has laid off “eight managers with many years of service to the company” as part of a reorganization of their corporate management structure. The company say it’s part “a continued effort to respond to the rapidly changing book industry.” Emily Powell acknowledges, “This is a difficult and painful time for Powell’s. The managers who were laid off today will be greatly missed.” CEO of Operations Ann Smith is retiring after 26 years at the company. Emily Powell will serve as president and ceo, managing marketing and store operations, as Miriam Sontz expands her role as chief operating officer, […]
People, Etc.
Ed Park is joining Amazon’s New York-based trade division on October 3 as a senior editor, where he will acquire and edit literary fiction. Park is a founding editor of The Believer, a former editor at the Village Voice and the Poetry Foundation, and author of the novel PERSONAL DAYS (2008). At media relations firm Cave Henricks Communications, Jessica Krakoski has been promoted to associate director of publicity. In addition, Claudia Dizenzo Mueller joins the company as publicity manager (she was at Basic Books) and Kimberly Griggs has been hired as social media coordinator. VP and publicity director Dennis Welch […]
People
Kelli Martin has joined Amazon Publishing in Seattle as senior acquisitions editor at Montlake Romance. Most recently, she was a senior editor at Harlequin, and has also held editorial positions at HarperCollins and Disney-Hyperion. Penguin Group publishing coordinator Matthew Boyd has been promoted to publishing manager and manager of special marketing initiatives. He “will continue to look for innovative ways to promote Penguin’s books, processes to better communicate information between imprints and departments, and partnerships to help Penguin Group reach new audiences.” Kate Gales has joined Simon & Schuster as a senior publicist. Previously she worked at Overlook Press. Literary […]
People, Etc.:
At this morning’s BISG annual meeting, the organization confirmed that vice chair Ken Michaels is now serving as co-chair of the organization’s board, alongside Dominique Raccah, who will step down from her position in a year. (Raccah took over as sole chair of the board last November when co-chair Andrew Weber left Random House.) Little, Brown, John Parsley has been promoted to executive editor. He joined the company in the fall of 2007. David Moldawer has joined Amazon Publishing as senior editor for the New York-based trade group, run by Larry Kirshbaum. Previously he was a senior editor at McGraw-Hill. At […]