Workman Publishing has named Traci Todd as director of children’s publishing, effective January 29. At that time, Sara Corbett will return to the company’s children’s division as art director.
Todd was most recently at Abrams, where she recently took on the role of editorial director of Abrams Appleseed and children’s licensed publishing. Since joining Abrams in December 2014, Todd specialized in books for children up to age five and licensed publishing for all ages. She began her career at Leapfrog and worked for other educational publishers, before moving to Chronicle Books. Todd is also the author of the picture book biography A Story of Nina Simone, which is tentatively scheduled for release by Putnam in 2021.
Todd said in a statement, “I feel very fortunate to be moving from one innovative publisher to another, and am very much looking forward to building upon Workman’s tradition of thoughtful, surprising children’s books with my new team.”
Corbett had previously held positions in the Workman art department from 2009 to 2011, at which time she designed and art directed children’s books, graphic novels, and art books. Her design of The Art of Rube Goldberg was awarded first place in the New York Book Show and received an Eisner Award nomination. Corbett returns to the company from Penguin Workshop, where she served as associate art director. Her prior experience included positions at Polaris Images, ARTnews, and the Pratt Institute. Corbett said in a statement, “I’m thrilled to begin a new adventure at a company I already love so much. Workman has a wonderful backlist and a remarkable staff, and I can’t wait to see what books we create in the coming seasons.”
Dan Reynolds, chief executive officer of Workman, said in a statement, “Workman has a long history of publishing groundbreaking titles for kids of all ages, and bringing to our program the kind of talent and experience that both Traci and Sara have makes us extremely excited about the future. I can’t wait to see how they help us evolve in the days and years ahead.”
Todd replaces Daniel Nayeri, the former publisher of children’s books, who left Workman in October to start a new imprint at Macmillan, along with editorial director Nathalie Le Du and creative director Colleen AF Venable.
