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The Gernert Company has a “strategic collaboration” with Bookcase Literary Agency to represent women’s commercial fiction, especially romance and romantasy. Joy Fowlkes at Gernert will work with Bookcase founder Flavia Viotti to build a new client list. Based in Los Angeles, Fowlkes has been focused on podcasts and digital media. Bookcase, whose clients include Meghan Quinn, Lucy Score, and Anna Todd, will serve as the exclusive foreign rights partner for all romance titles that come from the collaboration, with translation rights led by Meire Dias, director of foreign rights at Bookcase.

“Romance authors, much like podcast creators, build direct, emotional relationships with their audiences and are often underserved or misunderstood by traditional systems,” said Fowlkes. “As a reader who’s been saved by a good romance more than once, I know how powerful the genre can be and this partnership is about giving romance authors representation that reflects their vision and potential.”

“Together with The Gernert Company, we can offer romance authors something rare: a team that truly understands both the creative ambition and the business sophistication this category demands,” said Viotti.

Steph Optiz will become director of publishing services on April 6, ahead of the retirement of president Julie Schaper. Optiz is currently director of bookstore partnerships at Bookshop.org.

Darryll Colthrust will join the company as chief technology officer, effective April 7. He is currently co-founder and co-ceo of CHAPTR.

Nadia Durrani has been appointed commissioning editor, succeeding publisher Julie Gardiner, who will retire later this year. Durrani was previously publisher of the archaeology portfolio at Elsevier.

The agency’s UK and translation rights are now represented by Jemma McDonagh Agency.

As of March 1, the agency will take over Dutch and Nordic representation for the Maydo Kooy Literary Agency list, as the agency transitions its activities.