Stern Joins Crown
Viking editor-in-chief Molly Stern has broken free of her contract with Penguin and will join Crown as senior v-p, publisher, of Crown and Broadway Books, reporting to Crown Publishing Group president and publisher Maya Mavjee. Stern was reportedly offered the job at Crown, but was held back by the fact that she had nearly eight months left on her contract.
Leonard Riggio Buys a Million B&N Shares
In an effort to strengthen his voting position for a likely proxy fight, Barnes & Noble founder and chairman Leonard Riggio exercised options to buy 990,740 shares of B&N stock for $16.8 million, or $16.96 a share last week. Riggio paid about a $1.61 premium per share. B&N has put itself up for sale, and Riggio is preparing for a likely proxy battle against financier Ron Burkle, who has been pressuring B&N to improve its stock price.
Authors Withdraw from Teen Lit Fest
Four YA authors have pulled out of the annual Teen Lit Fest in Humble, Tex., in support of writer Ellen Hopkins, who announced that she was disinvited from the festival after a librarian and parents complained about her participation to the school board. Hopkins's books deal with meth addiction and teen prostitution.
