Emma House is leaving the London Book Fair in January after six years to join the UK’s Publishers Association as their international director. House will be the first woman to hold a senior role in the organization. Chief executive Simon Juden says “her appointment gives us the opportunity to refocus the role of international director slightly, as we seek to continue the robust protection of members’ copyrights overseas and domestically, as well as explore and exploit opportunities for market development.”
Personnel
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Paul Baggaley will fill the long-empty slot of publisher for Picador in the UK, vacated when Andrew Kidd became an agent with Aitken Alexander in the spring. He has been publishing director at Harper UK Perennial. At Harper Children’s, Erica Sussman has been promoted to editor. She has been with the company since 2004. SharedBook has hired Ashley Gordon as vp, business development, focusing on creating relationships with publishing partners to deliver customized and personalized print-on-demand books. She was director of channel development at Lightning Source. Author Solutions has hired Kevin Gregory as coo. Most recently he served in various […]
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At Harper Children’s, Kelly Smith has been hired as senior editor, reporting to Phoebe Yeh. She was an acquisitions editor for Sterling. Additionally, Laura Arnold and Greg Ferguson have been promoted to editor, reporting to Barbara Lalicki. Fran Olson moves over to become children’s books national accounts representative for Books-A-Million, Ingram and Bookazine. Olson has been at Harper since 1986. The New York Center for Independent Publishing (NYCIP) will honor Esther Margolis, founder of Newmarket Press, with the Poor Richard Award, given “to a publisher who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of independent publishing> Megan O’Patry has […]
Avery Put with Gotham Under Shinker
The Penguin Group is putting Gotham Books and Avery Books together under the direction of Bill Shinker, who will be president and publisher of both lines. Penguin Group president Susan Petersen Kennedy says that “his wise approach to nonfiction publishing will serve to further grow Avery’s widely respected list and will provide the perfect vision for the future growth of these two well-established imprints.” The two imprints will share the same marketing and publicity staff. Shinker notes in the announcement that “these two nonfiction imprints complement each other and are excellent fits.” As a result, Lisa Johnson will be vp, […]
Pakman to Leave eMusic
CEO of eMusic.com David Pakman will leave the company at the end of 2008 to become a partner at an unnamed venture capital firm. He’ll remain on the board of the company, which says it now has about $70 million in annual sales. A search is underway to recruit a new ceo. In the UK, former Picador deputy publisher Ursula Doyle will return to a staff job, taking on the new position of editorial director at Virago in November, reporting to Lennie Goodings. Falls Media, which specializes in funny, interactive, irreverent books and entertainment properties, has hired Peter Fornatale as […]
On Pikarski, and Other Announcements
Israeli literary agent Ilana Pikarski, 62, passed away suddenly on Friday in Tel Aviv. She led the Pikarski Literary Agency from 1982 and built it into Israel’s largest literary agency. Ziv Lewis writes: “A familiar face at international book fairs, Ilana will be remembered for her strong leadership and character, her passion for literature and for helping to shape the modern Israeli publishing industry to be the vibrant, competitive and high quality market it is today.” At Random UK, the CHA group–comprising Hutchinson, Heinemann, Century, Random House, Arrow and Windmill–will now be called Cornerstone Publishing. According to the announcement, the […]