Nearly 100 Egmont USA Titles Find a New Home at Lerner Publishing Group
Lerner Publishing Group announced today the acquisition of nearly 100 Egmont USA titles. Following Egmont's decision in January to close their USA office, Lerner Publishing Group purchased Egmont's remaining US assets including books by Ilsa J. Bick, Patrick Jennings, Jon and Pamela Voelkel, Lex Thomas, and recent Morris Award finalist Len Vlahos. The Egmont USA titles will be folded into Lerner Publishing Group's imprints including Carolrhoda Books, Carolrhoda Lab™, Darby Creek, and Millbrook Press.
Egmont USA will oversee the publication of the eight remaining titles on their 2015 winter list which will be distributed by Random House until April 30, 2015, at which time Lerner Publishing Group will take over publication and distribution of all Egmont frontlist and backlist titles. Andrea Cascardi, publisher and managing director of Egmont USA, and Margaret Coffee, sales and marketing director of Egmont USA, will remain until April 30th to oversee the transition to Lerner. Alix Reid, former editorial director and vice president at HarperCollins Children's Books, will be acting as Lerner's editor at large on an interim basis and will oversee many of the Egmont titles while Lerner continues to search for an editorial director of Carolrhoda Books to work in their Minneapolis office.
"I am delighted to be able to confirm that we have found a home for our authors with one of the US's largest independently owned children's publishers," said Rob McMenemy, CEO of Egmont Publishing International. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank our authors and agents for their support during this transition."
"The Egmont USA acquisition demonstrates our continued commitment to our highly acclaimed trade program," said Adam Lerner, CEO and publisher of Lerner Publishing Group. "Egmont's dedication to quality shows in their list of award-winning and bestselling books and we look forward to reaching out to Egmont authors and welcoming them to the Lerner Publishing Group family."
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