Simon & Schuster's Atria Books imprint went through a round of layoffs on Monday. Although the company did not respond to inquiries about the downsizing, PW has learned that at least two editors were let go.
The layoffs came to light in a post on WND.com which questioned whether editor Sarah Durand was fired for rejecting a book proposal by the platoon mates of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl based on political bias. Atria spokesperson Paul Olsewski told WND that the imprint dos not make editorial decisions based on political leanings, and that Durand's dismissal "was part of a planned editorial downsizing." Olsewski added: "To say otherwise is categorically wrong.”
PW has also confirmed that Malaika Adero, v-p, senior editor at Atria, was laid off as well.
UPDATE: After this story was posted, an Atria spokesperson responded to our initial query and said that the layoffs were limited to only two editors. The spokesperson also confirmed that there were no other layoffs in the division.
