World Book Night U.S. Announces Expanded Advisory Council

This week, World Book Night U.S. [1] announced the members of its expanded publishing and bookselling Advisory Council.

“The council has been my sounding board in several areas, especially regarding library and retail matters,” said Carl Lennertz, executive director of World Book Night in the U.S. “They are also working to form a 25-person author/celebrity patron list. As with the board of directors, we wanted representation across all areas of expertise, and I expect to add more people and voices over time. Several in the group will work with an American Booksellers Association bookseller task force on in-store materials and community outreach.” 

The World Book Night U.S. Advisory Council includes:

• Elise Cannon Vice President, Field Sales, Perseus Book Group and Publishers Group West
•  Amanda Close, Vice President, Digital Channel and Marketing Development, Random House
•  Sophie Cottrell, Vice President, Communications Director, Hachette Book Group
•  Sarah DiFrancesco, Director of Community Relations, Barnes & Noble
•  Carol Fitzgerald, President/CEO, TheBookReportNetwork.com
•  Matty Goldberg, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Perseus Books Group
•  Dosier Hammond, Vice President, Director of Library Sales and Marketing, W.W. Norton
•  Ken Holland, Vice President, Director of Field Sales, Macmillan
•  Tina Jordan, Vice President, Association of American Publishers (AAP)
•  Florrie Kichler, President, Independent Book Publishers Association
•  Ruth Liebmann, Vice President, Director, Account Marketing, Random House
•  Scott Moyers, Vice President and Publisher, Penguin Press
•  Bruce Nichols, Senior Vice President,  Publisher, Adult Trade, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
•  Mark Nichols, Development Officer, American Booksellers Association
•  Liz Perl, Senior Vice President,  Marketing, Simon & Schuster
•  Deb Seager, Vice President, Director of Publicity, Grove/Atlantic
•  Geoff Shandler, Editor in Chief, Vice President, Little, Brown and Company
•  Katya Shannon, Vice President, Field and Jobber Sales, Adult Division, Penguin
•  Wendy Sheanin, Director of Marketing, Adult Publishing Group, Simon & Schuster
•  Virginia Stanley, Director of Library Marketing, HarperCollins
•  George Tattersfield, Vice President, Merchandising, Ingram Content Group
•  Karen Torres, Vice President, Trade Sales Marketing Director/Field Sales Director, Hachette
•  Jaci Updike, Senior Vice President, Director of Adult Sales, Random House
•  Tracy van Straaten, Vice President, Publicity and Education/Library Marketing, Scholastic
•  Jeanette Zwart, Vice President, Sales, HarperCollins

During the April 23, 2012 celebration of World Book Night in the U.S. and the U.K., thousands of volunteers will go out into their communities to give away special, free World Book Night paperback editions.

World Book Night in the U.S. is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, supported by publishers, Barnes & Noble, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, the American Library Association, and the Ingram Content Group. World Book Night U.S. can be found on Twitter at twitter.com/wbnamerica [2] and on Facebook at facebook.com/worldbooknightusa [3]. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions [4] and other information about WBN can be found at worldbooknight.com [1].