I am excited for the chance to lead TDA as we continue to ascend to new heights and become more diverse and inclusive both on the shelf and behind the scenes." Pillai said, "Tom Doherty Associates has seen year-on-year growth, and we have a record breaking number of awards and nominations. At Orbit, she worked with such authors as Joe Abercrombie, Brent Weeks, Gail Carriger, Kate Elliott, Lilith Saintcrow and N.K. She started her career at Harper Business/HarperVoyager, and later moved to Warner Books and Orbit at Hachette Book Group, where she rose to the position of editorial director. At Tom Doherty Associates, she has edited authors including Brandon Sanderson, Christopher Paolini, Jenn Lyons and Arkady Martine. She was promoted to publisher, v-p, Tor/Forge Books in 2018, and assumed responsibility for the Tor Teen and Starscape imprints in 2020. Pillai joined Macmillan in 2016 as associate publisher, Tor/Forge Books. The festival was cancelled in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.įritz Foy is retiring as president and publisher of Tom Doherty Associates, and is being succeeded by Devi Pillai, effective immediately. The Book with Purpose anti-racism initiative will begin in mid-May and continue through the organization's 16th Annual Festival of Books & Authors, which is scheduled for September 25 and will feature a mix of in-person and virtual events. "As an organization, we must continue and extend our outreach, getting books into the hands of children and adults, and connecting to people through the life-changing power of story." "Everyone deserves the chance to see themselves in books and to know that books exist for them to be inspired, entertained and educated," she said. Rogers Southern said that her main focus in coming months will be an all-ages and communitywide anti-racism initiative, which is part of Bookmarks' Books with Purpose programming. Rogers Southern has also been an education coordinator with the American Booksellers Association, worked at the Alabama Booksmith, Birmingham, Ala., and ran her own events company. She started with Bookmarks as a volunteer at the 2009 Festival of Books & Authors. She had been interim executive director for the past six months and before that, was operations director for nine years. Jamie Rogers Southern has been named executive director of Bookmarks, the literary arts nonprofit and independent bookstore in Winston-Salem, N.C.