BTW News Briefs

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

Booksellers New Zealand CEO Lincoln Gould has announced his retirement, set for the end of October.

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) announced that The Art of Racing in the Rain author Garth Stein has been named the inaugural Author Leadership Circle  Campaign Chair. Along with co-ambassadors James Patterson and Ann Patchett, Stein will join in the mission to make the foundation sustainable.

Milkweed has launched the Milkweed Fellowship, a paid, one to two-year immersion program designed to offer the tools, experience, and exposure necessary to pursue a career in book publishing for individuals who might not otherwise have the access or means to do so.

Simon Armitage has been named U.K. Poet Laureate.

Naomi Shihab Nye has been named the 2019-2021 Young People’s Poet Laureate, an honor that celebrates a living writer in recognition of their devotion to writing exceptional poetry for young readers.

At Chronicle Books, Courtney Payne has been promoted to associate director of trade sales, and Ian Delaney has been promoted to associate sales manager. 

At Doubleday, Lauren Weber has been promoted to associate director of marketing, and Michael Goldsmith has been promoted to associate director of publicity.

Michael Leali has joined Sourcebooks as marketing specialist.

Emily Krump is being promoted to executive editor at William Morrow Group.

Steven Tran has been promoted to sales manager at Soho Press.

Kelsey Manning, formerly assistant director of marketing at Scribner, has joined Penguin Random House as senior marketing manager.

A range of awards and honors were presented at the 2019 British Book Awards. The shortlist for the awards can be viewed here.

Aida Edermariam has won the 2019 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, given to a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry evoking the spirit of a place, for The Wife’s Tale: A Personal History (published in the U.S. by Harper Perennial).

Marilyn Nelson has won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, which annually honors a living U.S. poet for outstanding lifetime achievement.

Nominees for the 2018 Shirley Jackson Awards, which honor outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic, have been announced.

The shortlist for the Desmond Elliott Prize, which honors a debut novel written in English and published in the U.K., has been announced. The winner will be revealed on June 19.

The shortlist for the 2019 Arthur C. Clarke Award, given to the best science fiction novel whose U.K. edition was published in the previous year, has been revealed. The winner will be announced on July 17.

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