Steve Rubin, former Doubleday Broadway President and Publisher, who began at Bantam Books in 1984 and was most recently Random House Publisher-at-Large, has been named President and Publisher of Henry Holt, reporting to Macmillan CEO John Sargent. Dan Farley will now focus exclusively on his other job as President and Publisher of the recently formed Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, also reporting to Sargent.

Paul Von Drasek has been named Trade Sales Manager of Capstone Publishers. He was Executive Director of Sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Mikyla Bruder has been named Associate Publisher at Timber Press, which was acquired by Workman in 2006. She was previously Executive Editor in the Gift division at Chronicle. Meanwhile, Chronicle announced that former Ten Speed Press Publisher Lorena Jones has taken over as Publishing Director. Jones will begin a digital food and drink publishing program and oversee Chronicle’s food and drink list as a whole. She left Ten Speed in November 2008, prior to Random House’s acquisition of the company.

Former Pantheon Publishing Director Janice Goldklang has joined Globe Pequot Press as Executive Director of Editorial, responsible for all trade programs. Steve Culpepper has the same title and is responsible for the regional travel and outdoor recreation programs.

Crown Executive Editor Heather Jackson announced that, having “thoroughly enjoyed nearly two decades in publishing,” she has resigned in order to “create and produce content in other media, as well as keep a hand on a few editorial projects each year.”

Brendan Cahill has moved to Jane Friedman’s Open Road Integrated Media as VP Publisher. He had been a Senior Editor at Gotham before attending Wharton, where he received his MBA. Most recently, he was at Boston Consulting Group.

Nick Trautwein has been hired as Senior Editor at the New Yorker, succeeding Emily Eakin. He was an editor at the Penguin Press.

Will Pesce, President and CEO, and Steve Smith, EVP and COO, of John Wiley announced the retirement dates and successors for Steve Kippur, EVP and President, Professional/Trade (retirement date July 31, 2010; successor Mark Allin); Eric A. Swanson, SVP, Scientific, Technical, Medical, and Scholarly (retirement date October 31, 2010; successor Steven Miron); and Bonnie Lieberman, SVP & General Manager, Higher Education (retirement date April 30, 2011; successor Joseph S. Heider). Heider will be promoted to the role of VP and COO of global effective May 1, 2010 and will continue to report to Lieberman.

Andrews McMeel has hired Linda Jones as SVP of its calendar and greeting card and Accord Publishing divisions, reporting to CEO Hugh Andrews. Jones was SVP Merchandising at Borders.

Abrams has hired Veronica Wasserman as License and Brand Manager for Children’s and Amulet Books. Wasserman previously worked in the Penguin Children’s licensing department.

Diane Bailey is joining HarperCollins as SVP of Human Resources, replacing Jim Young, who left earlier in the year. She will oversee all Human Resources functions for HarperCollins worldwide and sit on the executive committee. She was most recently at Heineken USA.

George Bick has joined the Doug Grad Literary Agency as an Associate Agent. He was most recently SVP, Director of Sales and Associate Publisher at HarperCollins.

Mary Grey James, a former book buyer for Ingram, has joined East/West Literary Agency as a partner agent. James serves as VP and President-elect of the Women’s National Book Association.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Simon & Schuster EVP, Operations Dennis Eulau has also been named CFO. Eulau takes over from David England, who has resigned. The company has hired David Byrnes in the new position of VP, Finance and Strategic Planning, reporting to Eulau. Elsewhere at Simon & Schuster, Kerri Kolen and Sarah Hochman have been promoted to the position of Senior Editor.

Ben Sevier has been promoted to Executive Editor at Dutton.

Julie Will has been promoted to Executive Editor at Rodale.

John Freeman, former president of the National Book Critics Circle, has officially been appointed Editor of Granta. He was appointed Acting Editor in May after the departure of Alex Clark and will be based in New York and London. His book The Tyranny of Email was published by Scribner in October.

Alison Donalty has been promoted to Executive Art Director in HarperCollins’s Children’s division. She began at HarperCollins in 1994 as an Assistant Designer.

At Dial Press, Noah Eker has been promoted to Editor.

DULY NOTED

Beginning in March 2010, American Vampire, a comic from Vertigo (DC Comics), will be released each month, including two stories: one by short story writer Scott Snyder and the other by Stephen King. King will write about Skinner Sweet, a bank-robbing, murderous cowboy of the 1880s who becomes a new breed of vampire. Snyder’s half will tell the story of a vampire in America during the 1920s. Both stories will be drawn by Rafael Albuquerque, who will continue the series with Snyder after King’s story ends.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The first Self-Publishing Book Expo will be held Saturday, November 7. The press release quotes Bowker figures claiming that the number of books self-published in 2008 increased 132% over the prior year. With a total of 285,394 titles, on-demand publishing surpassed traditionally published books for the first time. The Expo will feature panels and over 25 exhibitors, including authors, self- publishers, and POD companies, and was created by Diane Mancher and Karen Mender.

The Mercantile Library Center for Fiction honors Gerry Howard and announces the recipient of the First Novel Prize on November 9.

“The Wall in Our Heads,” the 2009 Words Without Borders fundraiser, also takes place on November 9. The evening features readings from the group’s new anthology, The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain by Paul Auster, Siri Hustvedt, and Peter Schneider. You can buy tickets here.

“Reading in a Digital Age,” a panel discussion moderated by Bill Goldstein and featuring, among others, New York Magazine’s Adam Moss, the NYPL’s Ben Vershbow, and Fourth Story Media’s Lisa Holton, takes place November 11 at CUNY.

Sonny Mehta, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, has been named the 2009 winner of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The Workshop will hold a cocktail reception and gala dinner in Mehta’s honor on November 13, at At Vermilion. Mehta will receive the award from the Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje. The dinner marks the beginning of Page Turner: The Inaugural Asian American Literary Festival, a two-day event showcasing award-winning authors reading together at the powerHouse Arena in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

The Independent Booksellers of New York City (IBNYC) unite to celebrate Independent Bookstore Week, “a citywide event highlighting the diverse cultural contributions made by indie bookshops across the five boroughs,” November 15–21. The week will kick off with a party at powerHouse Arena and will conclude on America Unchained Day. A special poster designed by New Yorker cartoonist Bruce McCall will be on display in participating shops and available for sale. The IBNYC is an alliance of booksellers working together to promote the cultural, literary and economic benefits of shopping at New York City’s over 60 independent bookstores.

The West Coast is in the news: Kirsty Melville, previously Publisher of Ten Speed Press, has become Publisher of the new book division of University Games. The new Publisher of Ten Speed is Lorena Jones. … Kevan Lyon, EVP for Wholesale Merchandising/Distribution (including PGW) at AMS, has left the company. Her duties were being handled by AMS interim CEO Charles Tillinghast, who steps down to a consulting role, as CFO Bruce Myers assumes the position of CEO on Nov. 12. … Jim De Vico has been named Director of Operations for TOKYOPOP Inc.

Janet Harris, most recently Publisher of Storey, is rejoining Workman in the newly created position of Calendar Publisher. She will be working in the New York office full time as of Jan. 1st.

One-year-old Hylas Publishing has hired as its EVP/COO f-stop Fitzgerald who comes from Avalon, where he was Senior Director Operations (new email: fstop@hylaspublishing.com). Sean Moore, who was most recently at Dorling Kindersley, is its Founder and Publisher. Joyce Stein joined Hylas earlier this summer as Director of Marketing and Public Relations.

Reed Business Information named Bill McGorry EVP and Publisher of its Publishing Group, which includes PW, Library Journal, School Library Journal and Criticas. Joe Tessitore, who held this position for two years, has left the company and may be reached at (914) 238-2979 or at Southfork2000@aol.com.

Elizabeth Eulberg joins Little, Brown Books for Young Readers as Director of Publicity. Eulberg worked at Scholastic, most recently as Associate Director of Publicity. … Mike Campbell has been named Director of Sales & Marketing for Timber Press. He was most recently with Barron’s. … Tom Lovett, former Divisional Sales Director for Random House has joined Johns Hopkins University Press as Sales Director.

Susan Lehman has left Riverhead, where she was an editor, to finish a book she has been writing. She may be reached at lehman@well.com or (212) 996-3107. … Lisa Considine, Senior Editor at Holt, where she has been since late 2003, has left the company. She was previously at Wiley and S&S. … Holly Rothman has left Rizzoli for packager/publisher Melcher Media, where she will be an editor.

Caroline Miller, former Editor of New York Magazine (and wife of Abrams’ Eric Himmel) has landed at a start-up magazine called Absolute New York, an extension of the Absolute Marbella brand.

Kylie Foxx has been named Senior Editor at Marlowe & Company/Avalon. She had been an editor at Black Dog & Leventhal. … Elissa Altman has joined Rodale as Senior Home and Garden Editor in the women’s health book group. She was formerly the Editor-in-Chief at The Taunton Press. Beth Lamb has joined the company as Director of Marketing. She was Publishing Manager for Kaplan Publishing at S&S.

Promotions

Sandee Roston has been promoted to Associate Publisher of the Avalon Group. She was previously Director or Marketing. At Marlowe/Avalon Sue McCloskey has been promoted to the position of Editor. Patti Kelly has been named a VP of HarperCollins Publishers. Kelly joined HarperCollins in June 2000, and is Director of Publicity for HarperCollins, HarperPerennial, Ecco, Fourth Estate, Rayo, and Amistad.

November Events

On Nov. 10, NYT “Style Section” columnist Bob Morris presents a “reading of a new musical solo,” based on his new book, The Aspirational Renter. The accompanist is none other than Miramax Publisher Jonathan Burnham at the piano, and proceeds benefit Dixon Place, a “laboratory for theatre, dance, literature & performance.” The show takes place at 7:30 p.m. at The Marquee at Marion’s, 356 Bowery at E. 4th St. For reservations, call (212) 219-0736 ext. 106.

• The Council of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP) presents A GOOD SPELL, a benefit spelling bee, at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 15 at NYU’s Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South. Tickets, which are tax-deductible, are $75 and may be purchased online or by calling (212) 741-9110 ext. 16. OED’s Jesse Sheidlower is the judge and spellers include Tama Janowitz, Alex Kuczynski, Adam Haslett, NY Post’s Sara Nelson, and many more. There will be a betting pool on the winner. Go to www.clmp.org for further information and tickets.

• Also on Nov. 15, the 2004 Thurber Prize for American Humor will be awarded at — where else — the Algonquin Hotel. Andy Borowitz and Claire Cook are co-emcees. For information call (814) 464 1032 ext. 11 or go to www.thurberhouse.org.

• The National Book Foundation will host its 55th Annual National Book Awards on Nov. 17 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. Garrison Keillor will host the awards, and Judy Blume will receive the 2004 NBF Award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. For information call (212) 685-0261.

• The Goddard Riverside 18th annual Book Fair runs Nov. 20-21, with a kickoff party on Friday, Nov. 19, from 6-9 p.m. at Goddard Riverside Community Center, 593 Columbus Avenue @ 88th Street. For more information contact astrothers@goddard.org. In a related fund-raising event, Bruce Harris will be honored on Nov. 8 at the Harmonie Club. Special guests for the event include Ken Auletta and Harry Evans. Tickets for this and other “Meet the Author” dinners are available by contacting Susan Baydur at (212) 873-6600 ext. 215, or sbaydur@goddard.org.

• If you’re looking for an event down South, The Miami Book Fair begins with the “congress of authors” on Nov. 7 and culminates with a street fair Nov. 12-14. The event is hosted by Miami- Dade College. Go to miamibookfair.com for a schedule of events and participating authors and publishers.

Duly Noted

Quarto Group has changed the name of its Rockport Publishers unit to
the Quayside Publishing Group and announced that all distribution for
the group will be handled by Creative Publishing International, which was acquired by Quarto in July, from F&W. In addition to CPi, the newly named Quayside group includes the Rockport Publishers imprint, Fair Winds Press, Quarry Books and the U.K.-based RotoVision. CPi’s Director of Sales Kevin Haas will handle all sales for the whole group.

Parties

The Harold Ober Agency celebrated its 75th anniversary appropriately at the Century Club, on Oct. 21. Present were the ghosts of past authors (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s granddaughter, Paul Gallico’s widow) and the very real authors of the present and future, as well as their acquiring editors: Amy Goldman with Artisan’s Anne Bramson, Stephanie Cowell and Viking’s Carole de Santi, Elizabeth Dewberry and Harcourt’s Ann Patty all happily presided over by Phyllis Westberg, Emma Sweeney and recently arrived Don Laventhall.

• The Whiting Writers’ Awards were announced on Oct. 28 at the Celeste Bartos Forum of the New York Public Library. Edna O’Brien was the guest speaker. Ten writers, Daniel Alarcon, Kirsten Bakis, Catherine Barnett, Dan Chiasson, Allison Glock, Elana Greenfield, A. Van Jordan, Victor LaValle, John Jeremiah Sullivan, and Tracey Scott Wilson each received $35,000. The writers’ awards have been presented since 1985. For details go to www.whitingfoundation.org.

Mazel Tov

Congratulations to publicist Rose Marie Morse and playwright Bernard Pomerance (Elephant Man), who were wed on Sept. 1.