MTV Entertainment Group has announced that publishing industry veteran Christian Trimmer will steer the relaunch of MTV Books in partnership with Simon & Schuster. The move coincides with the ramp-up of MTV Entertainment’s Book to TV/Film pipeline.
The MTV Books imprint will be housed under the Branded Publishing Group at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, overseen by v-p and publisher Valerie Garfield, along with Kara Sargent, director of branded publishing, who is the lead editor for the imprint on the Simon & Schuster side. Based in New York, Trimmer will report to Nina L. Diaz, president of content and chief creative officer for MTV Entertainment.
Trimmer has more than 15 years of publishing experience. He was most recently editorial director at Macmillan’s Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, and prior to that he served as executive editor at Simon & Schuster. His focus will be on expanding MTV Books’ properties, which include acclaimed titles such as Stephen Chbosky’s Perks of Being a Wallflower and Bethany Hamilton’s Soul Surfer, both of which were adapted into feature films, and Tupac Shakur’s The Rose That Grew from Concrete, among others.
Trimmer said in a statement, “I could not be more excited to bring my skills as a book publisher and editor to MTV Entertainment. Chris (McCarthy) and Nina have built an incredible team, and I look forward to working with them and Meghan to develop stories that surprise and delight audiences.”
