People Roundup, Mid-June 2013

PEOPLE

The National Endowment for the Arts announced that Ira Silverberg, Director of Literature programs, will leave the agency and return to New York City. Silverberg’s departure is effective July 11, 2013. Amy Stolls, Literature Program Officer, will be the Acting Director of Literature until a new director is in place. Silverberg joined the NEA in October 2011.

Beth Lamb has been appointed to the newly created position of Vice President, Associate Publisher, Vintage Anchor, reporting to Anne Messitte.  She was most recently Associate Publisher for Trade Books at Rodale. As a result, Hyperion VP, Associate Publisher Kristin Kiser is moving to Rodale as VP Deputy Publisher, reporting to newly named Publisher, Mary Ann Naples.  Naples has also announced that Jennifer Levesque will be joining as Editorial Director of Trade Books.  She was most recently at Abrams.

Elisabeth Dyssegaard, Hyperion Editor in Chief, will join Palgrave Macmillan as Executive Editor on June 24 with a focus on acquiring books in history. She will report to Karen Wolny, Editorial Director of Trade.

Jacob Lewis has been named VP, Publishing Director for CrownHogarth, and Broadway Books, effective July 8. He is currently the Co-founder and CEO of Figment.com.

Phoebe Yeh will join Random House Children’s Books as VP, Publisher, Crown Books for Young Readers on June 21, reporting to Barbara Marcus. Yeh was most recently Editorial Director at HarperCollins Children’s.  Michelle Nagler will join Random House Children’s Books as Associate Publishing Director for the Random House / Golden Books group.

With publication of fine arts and photography instruction titles by Watson-Guptill and Amphoto Books reassigned to Ten Speed Press, nine positions are being eliminated, including that of Victoria Craven, Editorial Director of Watson-Guptill, Amphoto Books, and Potter Craft.

Betina Cochran is joining Highlights in the newly created position of Editorial Director of Interactive Publishing and Strategic Partnerships.   Most recently, she worked as Associate Director of Licensing and Business Development for the American Museum of Natural History.

Joe Wikert, formerly General Manager of the TOC Division of O’Reilly, has announced that he has accepted a position with Olive Software.

Tim Ditlow has left Amazon Children’s, within the Marshall Cavendish division, where he was Associate Publisher (after working for Amazon-owned Brilliance Audio since 2008). He can be reached at timditlow@gmail.com

As a result of Kingfisher’s decision to scale back its U.S. operations, Kingfisher has announced that Brian Buerkle, who joined the company as Associate Publisher and Director of Marketing, left the company in December 2012.

Genoveva Llosa has joined HarperOne as Senior Editor. She was at Jossey-Bass most recently and has also worked at HarperBusiness, Crown, and Harvard Business Review Press.

Sarah Harrison Smith will become the new Children’s Editor at The New York Times, taking over from Pamela Paul, who was promoted recently to Editor of The New York Times Book Review. Paul replaced Sam Tanenhaus, who stepped down after nine years in the position to become a Writer-at-Large.  Smith has served as an editor in the Metropolitan section and also worked as the Managing Editor of The New York Times Magazine.

PROMOTIONS

Jennifer Brehl, SVP, Executive Editor and Director of Editorial Development, announced  that Emily Krump has been promoted to Editor of William Morrow/Avon/Voyager; she joined the company in August 2006.

Lynn Grady, SVP, Executive Editor and Director of Editorial Development of the William Morrow Group, announced that Shelby Meizlik has been promoted to VP, Publicity.  Shelby will continue to act as the Group Publicity Director for all of the William Morrow Group, including Morrow Hardcover, Trade Paperback, Avon, Harper Voyager, It Books, Impulse and Cookbooks.

Bloomsbury Children’s Books has promoted Caroline Abbey and Mary Kate Castellani to Senior Editor positions. Brett Wright and Laura Whitaker move up to Associate Editor. Both Castellani and Whitaker move over from Walker Children’s,  under imprint Publishing Director Emily Easton.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Click here to see our full calendar of publishing events

Jun 18 – 20
Licensing Expo
Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV

Jun 19 – 23
Seoul International Book Fair
Seoul, South Korea

Jun 27 – Jul 2
ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition
Chicago, IL

Jul 3 – 6
Tokyo International Book Fair
Tokyo Big Sight, Japan

Jul 10 – 14
Southampton Writers Conference, Session 1
Stony Brook Southampton, Southampton, NY

Jul 14 – 26
Yale Publishing Course: Magazine/Digital (Jul 14 – 19)
Yale Publishing Course: Book (Jul 21 – 26)
Yale University, New Haven, CT

Jul 17 – 20
Romance Writers of America Conference
Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Atlanta, GA

Jul 18 – 21
San Diego Comic-Con West
San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA

Aug 17 – 23
International Summit of the Book
Singapore

Aug 18 – 21
The Gourmet Housewares Show at NYIGF
Javits Center, New York, NY

Aug 28 – Sep 1
Beijing International Book Fair
Beijing, China

Aug 31 – Sep 2
Bumbershoot
Seattle Center, Seattle, WA

Sep 15 – 16
CIANA Remainder & Promotional Book Fair
The Business Design Centre, Islington Green, London

Sep 21 – 22
National Book Festival
“Books that Shaped the World”
National Mall, Washington, DC

Sep 23 – 25
39th Annual FIPP World Magazine Conference
Hilton Cavalieri Hotel, Rome, Italy

Sep 23 – 25
Publishing Business Conference and Expo
NY Marriott Marquis, New York, NY

Sep 30 – Oct 2
NAIBA Fall Conference
Somerset Doubletree, Somerset, NJ

Oct 2 – 4
Liber International
Guest of Honor: Chile
Madrid, Spain

Oct 6 – 8
PNBA Tradeshow
Airport Holiday Inn, Portland, OR

Oct 9 – 13
Frankfurt Book Fair
Guest of Honor: Brazil
Frankfurt, Germany

Oct 10 – 12
MPIBA Fall Trade Show
Renaissance Denver Hotel, Denver, CO

Oct 10 – 13
New York Comic Con
Javits Center, New York, NY

Oct 11 – 13
Southern Festival of Books
Legislative Plaza, Nashville, TN

Oct 20 – 27
Belgrade Book Fair
Guest of Honor: Poland
Belgrade, Serbia

Oct 27 – Nov 3
The Chicago International Remainder & Overstock Book Exposition
Hilton Chicago, Chicago, IL

Nov 13 – 17
Dublin Book Festival
Dublin, Ireland

Nov 17 – 24
Miami Book Festival International
Miami, FL

Nov 20 – 25
Montreal Salon du Livre
Place Bonaventure, Montreal, Quebec

Nov 30 – Dec 8
Guadalajara International Book Fair
Guadalajara, Mexico

Jan 4 – 6
New Media Expo
Rio All-Suit Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV

Jan 8 – 9
CBA Next 2014
AmericasMart, Atlanta, GA

Jan 9 – 12
129th MLA Annual Convention
Chicago, IL

Jan 9 – 12
Key West Literary Seminar: Chapter One
“The Dark Side: Mystery, Crime & the Literary Thriller”
Key West, FL

Jan 17 – 21
Jaipur Literature Festival
Diggi Palace, Jaipur