Sarah MacLachlan will join the Canadian literary publisher Anansi Press as president on December 1. Anansi, founded in 1967, has published the work of Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood and Northrop Frye. It was purchased in June 2002 from Stoddart Publishing by industrialist Scott Griffin, founder of the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize.
MacLachlan, who has been director of publicity at Oxford University Press, v-p of marketing and publicity at Little, Brown Canada, currently serves as president of Publishers Group Canada. Because PGC is Anansi's distributor, MacLachlan has already worked closely with the house. "We're going to take a major leap forward with her," said publisher Martha Sharpe.
MacLachlan is the second significant appointment at Anansi in as many months. Earlier, award-winning poet Ken Babstock was named to the newly created position of poetry editor.
To replace MacLachlan, PGC has named Kevin Williams president. He has been the executive v-p of business development for PGC's parent company, Raincoast Books.
