People 7/21

Editor Amy Cherry has retired from Norton after almost 42 years.

Editor-in-chief Dan Gerstle writes: “During her more than four decades at Norton, Amy built an award-winning, boundary-pushing list across nonfiction and fiction, including in history, biography, and literary fiction; oversaw an expanding paperback program; skipped the Assistant Editor level altogether, after assisting Norton’s President, Don Lamm; worked briefly as a publicist, in an era when Norton employees more often wore multiple hats; and much more. Throughout, she has been a great colleague, indeed the ideal colleague—deeply passionate about her own books, eager to read for others and offer constructive remarks, and also a mentor to many people, across various departments, who have walked the halls of 500 5th.”

The company also announced a number of hires and promotions:

Meredith McGinnis is promoted to senior marketing director.

Rachel Salzman expands her role to senior publicity director, trade-academic campaign strategy.

Erin Lovett expands her role to senior publicity director, creative and brand strategy.

Alexa Pugh is promoted to director, backlist and academic marketing strategy.

Steve Colca is promoted to marketing director.

Mere Dowling is promoted to senior marketing manager.

Eliana Brown is promoted to associate publicist.

Mollie Reid joined as senior publicist. She was previously at Penguin Press.

Huneeya Siddiqui is promoted to associate editor, Norton Trade.

Nick Curley is promoted to associate director of marketing, Liveright.

Clio Hamilton is promoted to publicist, Liveright.

Naomi Duttweiler is promoted to senior marketing manager, Norton Young Readers.

Molly Leahy is promoted to client services coordinator.

Angeli Rafer is promoted to archive and digital assets manager.

Leah Heath is promoted to assistant manager, prepress production & digital archive.

Nat Kent is promoted to assistant manager of digital production.

Sofia Chartove is promoted to trade operations coordinator.

Hana Nakamura is promoted to associate creative director.

Ingsu Liu has been promoted to associate creative director, trade.

HBG ceo David Shelley announced a video PSA from the company addressing the decline of children reading. HBG has partnered with more than 50 organizations across industries on the initiative, including Read Ahead, PEN America, Poets & Writers, Penguin Random House, Macmillan Publishers, Sourcebooks, We Need Diverse Books, and independent bookstores, and more. The company writes: “The PSA is a call-to-action encouraging adults to read to children for at least 10 minutes a day to help inspire a generation of lifelong readers.”

“Reading, as all of us who work with books know, is an activity that is both fun and mentally and spiritually nourishing. In fact, reading for pleasure as a child is the single most significant factor in future success,” Shelley says. “But we sometimes need to toot the horn for reading a little more loudly – and I hope that, together with our work getting free books to those who need them most, this PSA will do its bit to motivate and encourage more adults to read aloud to the children in their lives.”

Sophie Schmidt has been promoted to associate editor, Harper Alley.

Shannah Harris has been promoted to assistant editor, Greenwillow.

Monique Lowe has been promoted to assistant editor, Clarion & Harper.

Emilia Sowersby has joined as editor, KAZÉ. She was previously associate editor at Macmillan.

Mikhail Fernandes has joined as assistant designer, Harper Alley and KAZÉ.

Vanessa Lopez has joined in the newly created role of senior director, licensed publishing.