BTW News Briefs

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

The Children’s Book Council (CBC) has announced a new award series: the CBC Diversity Outstanding Achievement Awards. Launching this fall, the awards will honor children’s publishing professionals “who are making or have made a significant impact in book creation and/or employment practices.” The winners, to be nominated by employees of CBC member publishers and announced at the CBC Annual Meeting on September 27, will get to choose an organization to receive $1,000 worth of children’s books.

K-Fai Steele, illustrator of children’s picture book Noodlephant (Enchanted Lion), wrote a post for the KidLit Artists blog about the Author Education and Lunch at this year’s Children’s Institute, where booksellers talked about best practices for creating events that benefit both stores and authors. Steele signed her book with author Jacob Kramer at this year’s Author Reception.

In addition to technological glitches that slowed down service for customers on Amazon Prime Day, Amazon employees in Europe also participated in a strike on July 16 “to draw attention to their complaints against the company,” the Associated Press wrote. To mark the day, indie bookstore The Golden Notebook in Woodstock, New York, shared a post on Instagram that featured an “I didn’t buy it on Amazon” image, which is available in BookWeb’s DIY.

Casemate Group will start distributing Italian publisher Gremese Editore, which publishes books on the performing arts, cinema, dance, theater, and more. Casemate IPM will handle distribution in North America; Casemate Art will distribute to the U.K., Europe, and worldwide; and Casemate Digital will provide digital distributing for Gremese’s e-books. Going forward, Gremese will translate 10-12 new titles from its annual list into English each year.

The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group has acquired Pineapple Press, an independent publisher of books about Florida and its culture. Pineapple will become an imprint of Globe Pequot, the trade division of Rowman & Littlefield.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is closing its Eamon Dolan Books imprint, which was founded in 2011 and focused on nonfiction books; with this change, founding editor Eamon Dolan will be leaving the company. HMH publisher Bruce Nichols cited shifts in the industry as the reason for shutting down the imprint.

CEO Mark Smith will leave Bonnier Zaffre at the end of the month, and three of the company’s executive employees will fill in as the company searches for a new CEO. Smith, who has also sold his equity stake, joined the company in 2014.

HarperCollins Children’s Books has announced several promotions: Olivia Russo has been promoted to associate director; Gina Rizzo has been promoted to senior publicity manager; Lindsey Karl has been promoted to manager for conferences and conventions; and Mitch Thorpe has been promoted to publicist.

The Quarto Group has appointed Andy Cumming, the company’s senior independent non-executive director, as its non-executive chairman, while Laurence Orbach has stepped down as executive chairman to become a non-executive director. Additionally, COO Ken Fund was appointed to Quarto’s board as an executive director.

Chad Reynolds and Alexis Orgera, owners of the small press Penny Candy Books, are visiting up to 45 different indie bookstores across the U.S. this summer, as well as bookstores in Toronto and Montreal, and are blogging about it on the company’s website. The owners are also documenting their travels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

John Irving has been named the winner of the 2018 Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, which honors “writers whose works use the power of literature to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding.”

The recipients of the 2018 Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction have been announced. The award is named for Diana Pinckley, longtime crime fiction columnist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Ellen Hart won the Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work, while Marcie Rendon won the Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel for her book Murder on the Red River (Cinco Puntos Press).

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