People 9/17

Executive editor Erroll McDonald will retire at the end of the year. He has been at Random House for 50 years, editing authors including Sandra Cisneros, Kazuo Ishiguro, Laila Lalami, Jay McInerney, Toni Morrison, and Salman Rushdie. He will continue to teach graduate courses at Columbia.

Knopf Doubleday president and publisher Maya Mavjee writes, “One of the longest tenured employees in the history of PRH, Erroll’s impeccable editorial vision, extraordinary breadth of interests, and unwavering commitment to his authors and their books have had an enormous impact on both our company and American literary culture.”

The announcement includes praise from Oprah Winfrey: “Erroll has been a cornerstone of the publishing world from his first days as an intern at Penguin Random House. As a revered champion of authors and ideas, he has consistently elevated voices that challenge, that inspire and expand our understanding of our world. And his commitment to publishing stories that shift cultural narratives and break down stereotypes has opened doors for so many.”

Phil Klay becomes president and chair of the board of trustees. Klay is the author of National Book Award-winning Redeployment, among other works. He succeeds Dinaw Mengestu, who resigned from the position after just seven months.

He says in a release, “As a writer, free expression is the lifeblood of what we do, and that means not simply a narrow legalistic view of the First Amendment, but a broad faith in cultural exchange, in sustained efforts to understand other people, other cultures, and other ideas, including uncomfortable ones, and to the creation of a more open and egalitarian public square.”

Bryn Clark will return as vice president and editorial director of nonfiction, beginning October 14. Clark was most recently executive editor at Little, Brown.

Executive managing editor Rena Kornbluh will retire on September 18. She has spent 16 years at Hachette and 40 years in publishing.

Shauni Swanson joins as production editor on the corporate bookmaking team. Swanson was previously at Publang.

Lisa Amstutz has been promoted to senior literary agent.

Christine Zikas has joined as senior editor. She was previously the lead editor for Literary Guild/Doubleday Book club/Mystery Guild.

J.D. Myall joins as an associate literary agent with a focus on middle grade and young adult titles. She was previously at Neighborhood Literary Agency.

Julie Romeis Sanders has joined the agency. She was previously at SteelWorks Literary.