PublishersLunch
Random House UK has created a division, Random House Enterprises, to pursue "multi-platform business opportunities across TV, licensing and merchandising, gaming and live events." Former vp of international consumer products at Discovery Communications Jo Edwards has been hired as head of licensing. She will report to group commerical director Nigel Waters. Publicity director at Jonathan Cape and Bodley Head Chloe Johnson-Hill moves over to RHE as manager for events.
Humorist/essayist David Rakoff, 47, diedThursday night in Manhattan after a three-year battle with cancer. A frequent contributor to This American Life, Rakoff authored the essay collections FRAUD (2001) DON'T GET TOO COMFORTABLE (2005) and HALF-EMPTY (2010). In a statement Rakoff's longtime editor at Doubleday, svp, publisher Bill Thomas, said: "The world is a little less kind and a little less beautiful today. There were hundreds of reasons to love David. He was of course incredibly charming, witty and learned, a brilliant raconteur with the quickest mind imaginable, but most of all he was a generous soul. Though his life was cut infuriatingly short, it was rich beyond measure."
Shortly before his death, Rakoff delivered a novel entitled LOVE, DISHONOR, MARRY, DIE; CHERISH, PERISH, which Doubleday will publish posthumously in 2013.