Discovery House, the publishing arm of Our Daily Bread Ministries, is losing two of its long-time leaders with Judith E. Markham and Carol Holquist set to retire at the end of this week. PW has learned that Joyce Dinkins, most recently at New Hope Publishers, will be replacing Markham. Ken Petersen, who has worked for both Tyndale House and WaterBrook Multnomah, will be stepping in to replace Holquist.
Markham is leaving after 52 years in religious publishing, having started her career at Zondervan 1968. Her imprint Judith Markham Books published such titles as A Feast of Families by Virginia Stem Owens and Loving God by Charles Colson. She and two partners founded writing/editing/design company Blue Water Ink in 1987. In 2001 she joined Discovery House as managing editor.
Since 2014 Markham has been executive editor of the classic devotional Our Daily Bread. Through the years, Markham has worked with authors such as Philip Yancey, Joni Eareckson Tada, and Charles Swindoll. She is also a founding member of the Academy of Christian Editors.
Holquist has spent 40 years in religious publishing and also launched her career at Zondervan, starting there in 1975. Her first job at Zondervan was as a receptionist, but was soon asked to create the company’s first author care program. She became director of author care, working with, among others, Johnny and June Cash, Tim LaHaye and Philip Yancey. She moved to Discovery House as a member of its founding team in January 1988, taking the title of associate publisher. Holquist became publisher of Discovery House in 2005, and is retiring with the title of v-p of global publishing.
At its inception, Discovery House was publishing 12 books a year. Now it releases about 40 books a year.
