PEOPLE
Sasha Quinton has been named EVP and president of Scholastic’s School Reading Events, the newly formed division that combines the book fairs and book clubs businesses.
Emily Graff has joined Simon Element/Marysue Rucci Books as executive editor. She was previously senior editor at HarperCollins.
Onalee Duane has joined as a demand planning analyst, backlist for Simon & Schuster and Scribner. She was previously at Comcast Advertising. Megan Gendell has joined Simon & Schuster Children’s as production editor for Little Simon, Simon Spotlight, and Aladdin. Jennifer Strada has joined as senior production editor for McElderry Books.
Carlos Hernandez has joined PRH Grupo Editorial as director of sales, special markets, focusing on the Origen imprint. He previously held senior sales positions at Editorial Unilit, Grupo Nelson, and Harper Christian.
At Spiegel & Grau, Jess Bonet has joined as marketing director, reporting to publishing director Nicole Dewey. She was previously at Random House and Book of the Month. Michelle Waters joins Riverhead as marketing manager. She was previously at W.W. Norton.
VP, field sales & account marketing Karen Torres will be leaving Hachette Book Group on July 14. She has been with the company in some form for more than 36 years.
SVP/executive editor Terry Karten retired after 42 years with Harper Collins. Karten began at Harper & Row in 1980. VP, creative director at Harper Children’s Barbara Fitzsimmons is retiring on June 30.
Rachael Marks has joined Chronicle Books as a senior production coordinator and Cydel Virtucio has joined as sales manager for independent specialty sales.
Jennifer Weis has launched The Weis Agency, based in New York City. Weis was a senior agent at Ross Yoon Agency, which was recently acquired by WME, and previously executive editor at St. Martin’s. Shannon O’Neill joins the agency as editorial director. She was previously collaborator and developmental editor at Ross Yoon. Foreign rights will be handled by Kimberly Whalen at The Whalen Agency.
Rafik Dayem has joined Sourcebooks as cyber security engineer.
Mary E. Glenn has been named chief of UN Publications, located at the UN headquarters in New York. She was previously publisher at Humanix Books.
Christine Fisher has been elected president of the board of directors at MacDowell, succeeding Andrew M. Senchak. Fisher has been on the board since 2015.
Managing director and publisher at Atlantic Books Will Atkinson will step down later this year, after a successor is found.
Amy Hosford has joined KN Literary Arts as general manager.
At Microcosm Publishing, Anna-Lisa Sandstrum has joined to head up library sales. She was previously associate director of school & library sales & marketing at Chronicle Books. Abby Rice is joining as marketing supervisor. They were previously store manager of Title IX: A Bookstore in New London, CT. Olivia Rollins has joined as editorial supervisor.
Senior publicist Kayleigh Webb has left DAW Books.
Latoya C. Smith has returned to LCS Literary Services, where she will continue agenting as well as offering editorial and ghostwriting services. She was most recently co-founder of ArtHouse Literary Agency. Michelle Jackson has joined as an agent. She was at Olswanger Literary Agency.
Sarah Jean Grimm has joined as literary publicist at Broadside PR. She was previously at Catapult.
Chelsea Hunter has joined Holiday House, Peachtree, and Pixel+Ink as associate art director, novels and middle grade. She was previously senior designer at Abrams.
Kelly Bergh has joined Lucinda Literary as an agent. Previously an editor in academia, Bergh is building her list in practical nonfiction for adults and children in the areas of health and wellness, spirituality, and popular science.
PROMOTIONS
At HarperCollins’ Broadside Books Eric Nelson has been promoted to VP publisher. Sarah Haugen has been promoted to senior editor at HarperCollins. Asanté Simons has been promoted to editor at William Morrow/Avon. Amy Ryan has been promoted to vp, creative director at Harper Children’s.
Nora Alice Demick has been promoted to marketing director at Riverhead. Christine Johnston has joined Penguin Press as publicity manager. She was previously at Crown.
Heidi Sachner has been promoted to SVP, business development at Open Road.
At Microcosm Publishing, Sarah Koch has been promoted to operations manager. Alex Keiper has been promoted to incoming supply chain manager (Cleveland, OH). Tyler Lane Murphy has been promoted to customer service manager.
At the Jerusalem International Book Forum, Yoel Makov has been promoted to chairman and Sharon Katz has been promoted to director, leading the fair. Hadar Makov Hassan has been named artistic director. The next event will take place from May 26-29, 2024.
Laura Kincaid has been promoted to assistant editor at Holiday House. Amy Toth has been promoted to associate art director, picture books at Holiday House, Peachtree, and Pixel+Ink.
Zach Honey has been promoted to associate agent at FinePrint Literary Management.
Jhonson Eteng has been promoted to creative director at Kensington Publishing.
DULY NOTED
Former longtime CEO of Simon & Schuster from 1975 to 1994 Richard E. Snyder, 90, died at home in Los Angeles on June 6. During his tenure at S&S, the company grew to become the largest book publisher in the world for a time.
Abrams has done another round of layoffs across departments, following a round in April. The company declined to comment on the number of people who were let go.
Penguin Random House has initiated the process of centralizing production, managing editorial, and production editorial into single company-wide departments servicing all divisions and imprints. One clear objective is efficiency, as CEO Nihar Malaviya writes: “When fully implemented, this new structure will better serve our authors by utilizing resources efficiently, exploring new technologies, and standardizing processes where it makes sense. And bringing teams together will expand professional-development opportunities for our production, managing editorial, and production editorial colleagues while scaling our established excellence and expertise in bookmaking.”
Lakeside Book Company, the largest book printer in the US, has acquired Canadian book manufacturer Marquis Book Printing. The brand will remain as a division of Lakeside and Serge Loubier will stay on as president, while the division is led by Lakeside ceo Dave McCree.
Bob Worth, founder of Worth Publishers (now part of Macmillan Learning), died at 92. He founded the company in 1966.
EVENTS
June 14- June 18
Seoul International Book Fair
Seoul, South Korea
June 15- June 18
Nantucket Book Festival
Nantucket, MA
June 18- June 23
Santa Barbara Writers Conference
Santa Barbara, CA
June 19- June 22
Association of Jewish Libraries Annual Conference
(Online)
June 22- June 27
ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition
Chicago, IL
June 30- July 2
Fan Expo Denver
Denver, CO
