People Round Up, Mid August 2024

PEOPLE

At Penguin Random House, Helen Thomaides, previously assistant editor at W.W. Norton has joined as editor for Hogarth and the Modern Library. Ariela Rudy Zaltzman has left Penguin Random House. She can be contacted at arielarudy@gmail.com. Hannah Perrin has joined Crown as associate marketing manager. Jamie Lescht has joined as publicity manager. She was previously senior publicist at Penguin Press.

Hachette Book Group, Clive Priddle will step down as publisher of Public Affairs, effective September 13. Leigh Marchant will join as SVP and chief marketing officer on September 23, reporting to Richard Kitson. Previously she was SVP, director of marketing and & strategy & engagement at Random House. Tom Mis, formerly production manager at John Marshall Media, has joined Hachette Audio as audio post-production. Oriel Voegele, formerly publicity assistant at Basic Books, has joined Hachette Audio as publicity and marketing coordinator. Jerry Jensen joins as executive director of mass merchandising. He was previously at Simon & Schuster. Dan Kosack joins as director of mass merchandising. He was previously at Penguin Random House. Avi Molder is moving to the merchandising team to become national account manager, airports. Molly McLaughlin has been promoted to associate national accounts manager. Tishana Knight, senior national accounts manager, will be the inventory and operational point person for the mass merchandising channel. Associate editor Mollie Weisenfeld has left the company.

At Simon & Schuster, Ingrid Paredes, formerly special projects manager at Scholastic, has joined as manager for corporate and premium sales and special markets. Lauren Marino is joining as Simon Element as executive editor.

HarperCollins, sees Elise Damasco, previously advisory specialist at the Skokie Public Library join HarperCollins Children’s Books as school and library marketing coordinator. Dan Vidra, international sales director has departed the company. He can be reached at DVidra009@gmail.com.

At Sourcebooks, Nicholas Sweeney has joined as production editor for children’s. Celeste Knudson has joined as senior art director for children’s.

Authors Equity, Craig Young has joined as president of sales and can be reached at craig@authorsequity.com. He was previously deputy publisher at Little, Brown.

At Chronicle Books following a reorganization they have expanded their children’s books program. Rebecca Frazer joins as executive editor, overseeing licensing partnerships. She was previously at AMEET Publishing. Mary Colgan returns as senior editor, overseeing chapter books and the Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site line. She was previously at Highlights for Children, Boyds Mills Press, and Callisto Media. The marketing, publicity and school & library marketing teams will be combined under marketing associate director Brittany Mitchell. Natalie Nicolson takes on the role of senior manager of brand marketing.

At Springer Nature, Natalie Weaver has joined Kogan Page as marketing manager for North America.

At NYU Press, director Ellen Chodosh will retire from the company effective October 4th. Eric Schwartz, formerly editorial director at Columbia University Press will join and take over as director.

At Parallax Press, Katie Sheehan, formerly associate director of communications at Berret-Koehler Publishers and can be contacted at ksheehan@parallax.org.

Chelsea Green Publishing has appointed Matthew Derr as deputy publisher.

Port Hawkesbury Paper sees Eric Huard as director of speciality sales.

At Orca Book Publishing, Alexandra Valiquette joins as French-language sales specialist.

At Andrews McMeel Publishing, Jessica Rodriguez has joined as children’s and graphic novel art director.

Viz Media, Kevin Hamric, VP of publishing sales, has left the company and can be contacted at krh9595@gmail.com.

Creative Editions sees Beth Kephart as senior editor.

At Bookmobile, Hans Weyandt has joined Itasca Books, a division of Bookmobile as distribution manager. Mark Jung is retiring at the end of the month after 20 years with the company.

Minnesota Historical Society Press, Ryan Hemmer, formerly editor in chief at Fortress Press. John Rahm, formerly director of growth initiatives at Capstone Publishing has joined as director..

At Chooseco, Benjamin Wilgus formerly at First Second has joined as editor and can be reached at bwilgus@chooseco.com.

In Agency News…

At New Leaf Literary & Media, Trinica Sampson-Vera is being promoted to associate agent.

Andrienna Ingrum has joined Serendipity Literary Agency as VP and senior agent. She was previously at Broadleaf Books.

Baker Literary Scouting, Ellie VandenBerg has been promoted to vice president.

At FinePrint Literary Management, Mara Hollander has been promoted to associate agent.

PROMOTIONS

At Hachette Book Group, Cristal Sanchez has been promoted to sales associate for the online and digital team. Fantasia Brown has been promoted to national account manager for the online and digital team.

Simon & Schuster has promoted Natalia Olbinski to associate art director. Math Monahan is being promoted to art director.

At Penguin Random House, Jules Kelly has been promoted to associate director of trade marketing at Random House Children’s Books. Megan Mitchell has been promoted to senior marketing manager at Random House Children’s Books. Kaitlin Kneafsey has been promoted to associate director of publicity at Penguin Young Readers. Shannon Spann has been promoted to senior digital marketing manager at Penguin Young Readers.

At Union Square & Co., Alexandra Eliopoulos has been promoted to managing editor for digital publishing and reprints.

At Melville House Publishing, Hannah Lafferty is being promoted to director of sales. She can be contacted at hanna@mhpbooks.com. Pia Mulleady has been promoted to publicist and can be contacted at pia@mhpbooks.com. Michelle Capone has been promoted to associate editor. She can be contacted at michelle@mhpbooks.com.

At Lerner Publishing Group, Ben Tunby has been promoted to premedia manager. Spencer Hanson has been promoted to project manager. Annie Zheng has been promoted to editor.

At Beacon Press, Frankie Karnedy has been promoted to sales and marketing coordinator. Maya Fernandez and Haley Lynch have been promoted to editor.

At Chelsea Green Publishing, Sean Maher has been promoted to director of North American sales, marketing, and publicity.

Diversion Books, Evan Phail has been promoted to acquisitions editor.

Good Book Company has promoted Nick Bannister to U.S. sales director.

DULY NOTED

NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute (NYU API), an executive education program, inspired by the Yale Publishing Course, is now returning for a second year in 2025. API 2025 will be held on NYU’s Greenwich Village Campus from January 6-10, 2025. Enrollment is now open

Susan Wokcicki, YouTube CEO and a key player in encouraging the publishing world to allow Google, which later would be known as Google Books, to scan books into its search engine, died of lung cancer on August 9. She was 56.

Dana Adkins Pan, 77, died at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City on July 22. She had spent thirty years as an editor at Viking, Houghton Mifflin and later, at Reader’s Digest. The date for a memorial service will be announced shortly.

Betty Prashker, 99, died on July 30 at her daughter’s home in the Berkshires. She was one of the first women to rise high in publishing editorial ranks and enterprising editor of feminist nonfiction. She is estimated to have edited more than 500 books during her time at Doubleday and Crown.

New York Times bestselling author of Heavier Than Heaven: The Biography of Kurt Cobain and prolific music writer and editor, Charles Cross, 67, died August 9.

Susan Watt, veteran publisher and HarperCollinsUK editor-at-large dies. In addition to her 60 year long tenure at HarperCollins, she was also the longtime editor of Bernard Cornwell.

EVENTS

Edinburgh International Book Fair

Aug 10-25

Edinburgh, UK

Feira do Livro do Porto

Aug 23- Sep 8

Crystal Palace Gardens, PT

Queen’s Park Book Festival

Aug 31- Sept 1

London, UK

Printers Row Lit Fest

Sept 7-8