Celia Lee will join Simon & Schuster Children’s as executive editor. She was most recently senior editor at Orchard Books and Cartwheel Books. Stephanie Koven has joined Blackstone Publishing as head of foreign rights. Previously, Koven was an agent at Cullen Stanley International. Nicki Richesin has joined Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency as an…
Picks: Oprah’s Book Club, Barnes & Noble’s Best Books So Far, And More
Oprah‘s next book club selection is The Sweetness of Water by debut author Nathan Harris. She will discuss the book with Harris on Apple TV+ on July 23. Barnes & Noble named its Best Books of 2021 so far: Amari and the Night Brothers, by B. B. Alston Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley The Four…
In Bologna Panel, Publishers Discuss History, Future of Diverse Books
In a pre-recorded panel at the virtual Bologna Children’s Book Fair, A Decade of Diversity in Children’s Books, publishers and creators of children’s books from around the world discussed the history and future of diverse books. Featuring COO of We Need Diverse Books Dhonielle Clayton; publisher of Lee & Low Books Jason Low; author and…
People
Asanté Simons has been promoted to associate editor for William Morrow/Avon Books. Angela Messina has joined Basic Books as assistant publicity director. Most recently, she was publicity manager at Oxford University Press. In the UK, as part of the Queen’s birthday honors list, Allison & Busby co-founder Margaret Busby was named a CBE and Faber…
Obituaries
Lucinda Riley, 56, the bestselling author of the Seven Sisters series, died on June 11 of cancer. Jeremy Trevathan, managing director of Pan Macmillan’s adult publishing division, said, “It’s been an immense and very rare privilege to work with Lucinda. Popular fiction is often looked down on but when authors like Lucinda break through and…
Imprints
Astra Publishing House is launching an imprint dedicated to publishing illustrated books for children, to be led by Jill Davis. She was most recently executive editor at Harper Children’s. She will report to coo Ben Schrank and president Leying Jiang. Davis says, “My focus at Astra will be developing authors and illustrators from all over…