People Round-Up, Early September 2023

PEOPLE

Alison Lazarus, executive VP, director of sales, is retiring and will leave Hachette Book Group next month. She joined Hachette in 2018 after having been at Macmillan for more than 20 years. Lauren Monaco will be joining Hachette on October 2 as executive VP, director of sales. She was previously at Penguin Random House.

Nihar Malaviya, appointed interim CEO in January, has been made CEO of Penguin Random House. Bertelsmann chairman and CEO Thomas Rabe made the announcement.

SVP and publisher of Avery and Tarcher Perigee, Megan Newman, has taken PRH’s VSO package and will retire in December.  Rebecca Smart, Co-CEO of DK will move into a new role as a dedicated internal leadership and talent coach. Casey Hampton has joined Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group as senior designer.

 President and publisher of HarperCollins Children’s Books, Suzanne Murphy will leave the publisher at the end of the month. Liate Stehlik, president and publisher of the Morrow Group will now add the title of president and publisher of Children’s Books.  Shannon Welch returned to Harper One on September 7 as VP, editorial director, reporting to President and Publisher, Judith Curr. She was most recently at Harmony

Anne Shone joins the Tundra Book Group as editorial director. She was previously at Scholastic Canada

Priyanka Krishnan joined William Morrow/Avon as executive editor. She was most recently at Orbit.

Sean Buckley is joining the independent sales team as telesales account manager at Simon & Schuster

Joseph Montagne has joined Abrams ComicArts as associate publisher.

Daphne Durham joined Putnam as an executive editor after previously being at MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Kevin F. Watson has been named chief financial officer at Barnes & Noble Education

Carisa Hays has launched PR company Carisa Hays Public Relations. The company will offer services to authors, publishers, and non-profit organizations.

At Sourcebooks, Zuha Mohammed has joined as accounting associate. Zoya Boskovic has joined as digital marketing associate. Charlie McGroarty has joined as graphics designer.

Alex Vlahov joins Cornell University Press as a publicist. 

Naomi Falk joins powerHouse Books as production manager. 

In Agency news:  Jane Chun has joined Transatlantic Agency as literary agent. . . . Mary C. Moore has joined Aevitas Creative Management as an agent. She was previously at Kimberley Cameron & Associates. . . .Aiden Siobhan has joined Laura Dail Literary Agency as associate agent.. . .Mara Cobb has joined Martin Literary and Media Management as junior agent. 

At Zibby Books, Imanee Magee joins as editorial associate. Katie Teas joins as publicity manager. Gabby Capasso joins as senior associate editor. Tracy Massaro joins as chief marketing officer. Karen Menzie joins as director of sales. Erinn McGrath joins as head of corporate communications. Katie Song joins as editor of Zibby Mag. Samantha Marks joins as publishing associate. Samantha Gregory joins as head of marketing and community for Zibby’s Bookshop.

Adriann Ranta Zurhellen has joined Kevin Anderson & Associates as senior editor. She was previously an agent at Folio Literary Management.

Cristina Garces has joined Ten Speed Press as executive editor.

Rachel Gilman has joined Feminist Press as sales and marketing coordinator. She was most recently at Grove Atlantic.

Bree Martinez has joined Crown Publishing Group as senior publicist and Mary Moates has joined as associate director of publicity.

Desiree Wilson has joined Looking Glass Literary & Media as an agent. 

 

PROMOTIONS

At Random House, Ben Greenberg was promoted to VP, Editor-in-Chief. Hilary Redmon was promoted to VP, editorial director of nonfiction. At Penguin Publishing Group, Jordan Aaronson has been promoted to assistant director, marketing and Andrew Taets has been promoted to marketing associate.  At Ballantine Bantam Dell, Kara Cesare has been promoted to vice president, editor in chief. Hilary Teeman has been promoted to editorial director. Anne Speyer has been promoted to executive editor. Jesse Shuman has been promoted to editor. Shauna Summers has been promoted to editorial director for Dell. Caroline Weishuhn has been promoted to associate editor. Mae Martinez has been promoted to assistant editor.

At Crown Publishing Group, Derek Gullino becomes senior vice president, executive director, bookmaking. Serena Sigona has been promoted to production director. Andrea Lau has been promoted to art director.  Gwyneth Stansfield becomes executive publicist. Stacey Stein has been promoted to publicity manager.

At Harper Children’s, Elizabeth Agyemang and Sara Schonfeld have been promoted to editor. Erika DiPasquale has been promoted to associate editor.

Jacqui Young has been promoted to associate editor at Grand Central. At Hachette Book Group, Nancy Kriz has been promoted to senior manager of account marketing and Alexis Kuzma has been promoted to senior retail strategy manager. 

At Abrams, Mary Marolla was promoted to associate director, children’s publicity and Anneliese Merz was promoted to publicist, children’s publicity.

At Sourcebooks, Gabbi Calabrese has been promoted to assistant editor, kids and YA. Angela Navarra has been promoted to senior art director.

Jackie Teoh was promoted to acquisitions editor at Cornell University Press. 

Amy Nielsen was promoted to associate literary agent at The Purcell Agency

Joy Bean has been promoted to editorial director at Arctic Books USA

Michele Mortimer and Eric Amling have been promoted to agency associates at Darhansoff & Verrill Literary Agency

At Portfolio/Penguin, Noah Schwartzberg has been promoted to executive editor.

Dani Segelbaum has been promoted to VP, literary agent, and subsidiary rights director at Carol Mann Agency

Timothy Travaglini has been promoted to senior agent at Transatlantic Agency

At Feminist Press, Lucia Brown has been promoted to director of community engagement. Nadine Santoro has been promoted to publicity and events coordinator.

At Mushens Entertainment, Rachel Neely has been promoted to agent and Kiya Evans moves up to associate agent.

Amanda Bullock has been promoted to senior artistic director at Literary Arts

At Princeton University Press, Bridget Flannery-McCoy has been promoted to executive editor. James Collier has been promoted to assistant editor. Whitney Rauenhorst has been promoted to assistant editor. Eleanor Smith has been promoted to international rights executive. Taylor Sumereau has been promoted to IP & contracts associate.

Nathan Rostron has been promoted to associate publisher at McNally Editions

 

DULY NOTED

Co-founder and president of Abbeville Press, Robert E. Abrams, 80, died on August 28.

Translator Edith Grossman, 87, died on August 28. She translated acclaimed editions of Love in the Time of Cholera and Don Quixote.

Sarah Young, the author of Jesus Calling, which sold more than 45 million copies, has died at 77.

Author and journalist Gita Mehta, 80, died on September 16. She was the widow of longtime Knopf editor-in-chief Sonny Mehta.

Jenna Bush Hager will launch a podcast starting on September 24, with Colleen Hoover and Javier Zamora as her first guests.

 

EVENTS

September 19 – September 21
PNBA Fall Tradeshow
Portland, OR

September 28 – October 7

Riyadh International Book Fair

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

September 30 – October 3
Toy Fair
New York, NY

October 4 – October 7
FallCon
Denver, CO

October 18 – October 20
Heartland Fall Forum
Detroit, MI

October 20 – October 23
Helsinki Book Fair
Helsinki, Finland