BTW News Briefs

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

United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will headline an evening event on Thursday, May 30, at BookExpo, where she will discuss her book Just Ask: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You, to be released September 3 by Philomel.

The winners of both the 2018 and 2019 Nobel Prizes in Literature will be announced this fall. The Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, announced in May that it would not name a 2018 winner due to infighting and public outrage over a sexual abuse scandal. 

Effective June 1, the Man Booker Prize’s new sponsor will be Crankstart, the charitable foundation of Sir Michael Moritz and his wife, Harriet Heyman; Crankstart replaces the Man Group, which sponsored the prize for 18 years.

The owners of L.A. romance-only bookstore Ripped Bodice, Bea and Leah Koch, have released their third annual “The State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing” report for the year 2018.

The New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment announced a slate of five all-female finalists for this year’s One Book, One New York campaign, now in its third year. During the month of April, New Yorkers will cast their votes for the one book the whole city will read together. 

Diversion Books crashed a book of Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony, Michael Cohen’s House Testimony: The Complete Transcripts and Case Documents, on March 5.

According to executive vice president of sales Jenn Gonzalez, Macmillan will be restructuring its sales executive management team.

Author and blogger Denene Millner’s eponymous children’s imprint, Denene Millner Books, will launch under the Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers imprint in spring 2020 with five titles by African American writers. The imprint debuted in 2017 under Agate Publishing’s Bolden Books imprint.

Beginning September 2, Hachette Book Group will sell and distribute Sheldon Press in North America.

Post Hill Press publisher Anthony Ziccardi has acquired B&H Publishing’s Fidelis Books imprint.

Dan Smetanka is being promoted to editor-in-chief at Counterpoint Press. He is taking over for Jack Shoemaker, who has been named senior vice president and founding editor.

Effective March 11, Jonathan T. Ackerman is joining Highlights as sales director for its book publishing business within the Highlights Retail group.

Katharine McAnarney has been promoted to publicity manager at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

At Hachette Audio, Kim Sayle is being promoted to vice president and associate publisher, and Nita Basu is being promoted to assistant manager for marketing and publicity. In addition, Elece Green is being promoted to producer.

Kerry McCluggage has stepped down as CEO of IDW Media Holdings, the parent company of comics publisher IDW Publishing, and will be succeeded by Howard Jonas, board chairman and a controlling stockholder. 

At a ceremony on March 4, the Audio Publishers Association announced the winners of the 2019 Audie Awards, which honor excellence in audiobooks and spoken entertainment. Audiobook of the Year went to Children of Blood and Bone (Macmillan Audio), written by Tomi Adeyemi and narrated by Bahni Turpin. 

The Romantic Novelists’ Association announced the winners for the 2019 Romantic Novel Awards. 

The New York Public Library has named five finalists for its 32nd annual Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. The award honors “journalists whose books bring clarity and public attention to important issues, events, or policies” and offers a prize of $15,000.

Finalists have been announced for the 2019 PEN Faulkner Award for Fiction. The winner, who will receive $15,000, will be announced April 29.

The longlist has been revealed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, which “celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world.” The award offers £30,000 (about $39,700) in prize money.

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