Arcadia Publishing, which specializes in books on local history, has acquired River Road Press, a publisher of books on New Orleans and the surrounding areas.
As part of the acquisition River Road Press founder and publisher Scott Campbell will join Arcadia and take over as publisher of its Pelican Publishing imprint, a New Orleans-based general publishing house founded in 1926, which was acquired by Arcadia Publishing in 2019. Prior to founding Road Press in 2014, Campbell worked as director of sales at Pelican for more than a decade.
The River Road and Pelican publishing programs are both noted for books focused on New Orleans, Louisiana and Southern culture and under the direction of Campbell, the River Road backlist will be merged with the Pelican Publishing list.
Campbell said, “Having spent a decade at Pelican, I have the deepest appreciation for its unique role in New Orleans culture. I’m gratified to be working again with the Pelican team, and I’m looking forward to working closely with new colleagues at Arcadia.”
Arcadia president and CEO David Steinberger noted that Campbell “spent a big part of his career with Pelican.” He added: “I couldn’t be more pleased that this innovative company will join with Pelican, which has such an esteemed legacy of publishing in New Orleans. I’m delighted that Scott is rejoining us to lead Pelican Publishing forward.”
