The “50 Under 40” feature that wrapped up last week was one of the most popular columns published by PW in many years. Many of those profiled have added new milestones, both professionally and personally, since they appeared in our pages; below is an update of what some of those have been up to as 2008 draws to a close. (To see video interviews with many of them, go to www.PublishersWeekly.com/PWvideo.) In 2009, PW will take a slightly different tack, profiling industry members of all ages who are making a difference in an ongoing feature called “Change Makers.” Suggestions can be e-mailed to jmilliot@reedbusiness.com.
John Freeman
A week after PW profiled prolific critic and former NBCC president Freeman, he was named American editor of Granta, the English literary journal.
Amber Qureshi
The White Tiger, which Free Press senior editor Qureshi edited, won the Booker Prize in October. Qureshi just signed up author Aravind Adiga's second book, titled Between the Assassinations, for publication in June 2009.
Meg La Borde
In September, La Borde, who had been at publisher/distributor Greenleaf Book Group for more than eight years, resigned, to “move in a new direction.”
Caitlin Friedman
Following PW's profile of Friedman, an entrepreneur and co-owner of YC Media, she submitted a children's book to a major publisher.
Nickole Brown
In December, Brown—publicity director at Sarabande Books—was selected to receive an NEA fellowship in poetry.
Michael Keriakos and Ben Wolin
The founders of Waterfront Media merged their company with the Revolution Health Network in October, forming a new company that includes the online health sites from both companies.
Emily Cook
Cook left her post as marketing director of Milkweed Editions to finish her undergraduate degree at Smith College. She said, “After I spoke to PW in January, I realized that while I loved my job at Milkweed... the hours of dedication to my work left no room to really think about and explore the questions that plagued me: where are the readers? Where, especially, are the young readers?” Cook is enrolled in Smith's landscape studies program and plans to focus on encouraging the intersection between civic life and literary arts.
Ben LeRoy
LeRoy, publisher of Madison, Wis.—based Bleak House Books, launched an unusual holiday bookselling campaign: he made nearly all of Bleak House's catalogue of mystery and crime books available at no cost other than shipping and handling.
Anjali Singh
The editor who acquired Persepolis and The Epileptic for Pantheon before moving on to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt was let go earlier this month amid HMH's downsizing.
Eric Obenauf and Eliza Jane Wood
The couple behind indie press Two Dollar Radio snagged resoundingly unanimous reviews for Erotomania: A Romance; sold 2,000 copies of I Smile Back; and is close to 4,000 copies for The Drop Edge of Yonder.
Sabrina McCarthy
PW's profile of McCarthy, who is Perseus Distribution's v-p of client services, ran on August 18—the same day McCarthy gave birth to a baby girl. She returned to work full-time earlier this month.
McKenna Jordan and David Thompson
Jordan and Thompson, of Houston, Tex.'s mystery bookstore Murder by the Book, were married about five months after their PW profile ran.
Carrie Kania
Six months after PW's May profile of the Harper Perennial publisher, the New York Observer ran a story celebrating Kania, titled “Carrie Kania Makes Harper Perennial Clubhouse for Losers.”
Talia Ross Sherer
The director of library marketing, adult trade, at Macmillan married Basic Books publisher John Sherer in October. She also became a regular guest blogger on Nora Rawlinson's EarlyWord.com.
Jennifer Hunt
Hunt, who edited Sherman Alexie's National Book Award—winning The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, was promoted in October. She is now editorial director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, overseeing all middle-grade and YA fiction acquisitions, and functioning as the primary editorial contact for foreign novel acquisitions.