BTW News Briefs

Here’s what’s happening this week in the book industry:

A group of 20 children’s authors issued a statement on Monday, June 18, against the government’s new practice of separating immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border. As part of its Kid Lit Says No Kids in Cages campaign, the group also posted an electronic petition so others can sign onto the statement.

Former president Barack Obama posted his annual reading list on Facebook. This year, the list includes Futureface by Alex Wagner (One World), The New Geography of Jobs by Enrico Moretti (Mariner Books), and Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Deneen (Yale University Press), among other titles.

Imagine Television is turning Carmen Maria Machado’s queer, feminist short story collection Her Body and Other Parties (Graywolf Press) into a TV series similar to the dystopian, futuristic Black Mirror. The book was a National Book Award finalist as well as the October 2017 Indie Next List number-one pick and the 2018 Indies Choice Award winner for Adult Debut Book of the Year.

Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) CEO Joel Becker will retire from the association at the end of the year. Becker’s 46-year career in the book industry includes eight years as CEO at ABA, working on issues like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on inbound goods, parallel importation, and the entry of Amazon into Australia.

The Independent Booksellers Consortium has hired Elizabeth Bogner as its new executive director. She takes over from Lori Tucker-Carlson, who spent 18 years in the job. Bogner has worked as a bookseller in California and New York, a publisher liaison for the American Booksellers Association, and at publishers like Bantam Doubleday Dell, Serpent’s Tail, and Simon & Schuster.

Ingram Academic Services has signed an agreement with University of Pennsylvania Press for the publisher to use Ingram’s warehousing and worldwide distribution network, digital asset management, and academic marketing services.

Starting July 1, the University of Virginia Press will begin providing manuscript editorial, design, and production services to University of Delaware Press. In this new partnership, UD titles will be distributed by Longleaf Services in conjunction with titles from UV.

Penguin Random House has sold Smashing Ideas to Luxoft, the global IT services provider; the publisher purchased the Seattle-based design agency in 2011. PRH U.S. Director of Strategic Development Nina von Moltke said Smashing Ideas “will be best served by an owner that can contribute more synergies and added value for shared clients.”

Liz Wetzel has joined Basic Books as director of publicity; previously, she was a publicity manager at Crown.

Matt Schweitzer has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as senior vice president of marketing. He was most recently the senior director of integrated marketing at Harper Children’s.

Former Dey Street Books executive editor Julia Cheiffetz has joined the Atria Publishing Group as vice president and publisher of a new imprint. She is reporting to group publisher Libby McGuire.

The Brooklyn Book Festival 2018 announced the lineup last week for this year’s festival; in addition, Hugo Award-winning author N.K. Jemisin was announced as the winner of the annual Best of Brooklyn Award. 

We Need Diverse Books has announced the winners of the 2018 WNDB Internship Grants. Each of the eight diverse interns will receive a $2,500 grant and a two-month metro stipend to support them during their internships at one of five participating publishers.

British author Geraldine McCaughrean and Canadian illustrator Sydney Smith have won the 2018 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, respectively. McCaughrean received the Carnegie Medal for Where the World Ends (Usborne), and Smith received the Kate Greenaway medal for his work on Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz (Walker Books). 

Pop Culture Classroom, the educational nonprofit behind Denver Comic Con, announced the winners of its first Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards on June 16. Tattered Cover co-owners Len Vlahos and Kristin Gilligan presented the award for book of the year to Spill Zone by Scott Westerfield and Alex Puvilland (First Second).

Mike McCormack, author of Solar Bones (Soho Press), was named the winner of the International Dublin Literary Award, which comes with 100,000 Euros.

The Center for Fiction announced the longlist for its 2018 First Novel Prize last week; it has also named Doubleday chairman and editor-in-chief Sonny Mehta the 2018 winner of the Maxwell E. Perkins Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Fiction.

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