Putnam's Names New Editorial Director

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS APPOINTS
MARYSUE RUCCI EDITORIAL DIRECTOR


NEW YORK, NY/AUTHORLIN NEWS/January 29, 2010--Marysue Rucci has been named Vice President, Editorial Director for G. P. Putnam’s Sons, it was announced today by Ivan Held, President of G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Ms. Rucci comes from Simon & Schuster, where she built a strong list of commercial and literary writers and was most recently Vice President, Executive Editor. At Putnam, her primary responsibilities will be to build her own roster of authors and to help the Putnam imprint acquire and develop new bestselling franchises both in fiction and nonfiction.

Ms. Rucci will report to Mr. Held and her appointment is effective March 15, 2010.

Mr. Held said, “Marysue’s reputation precedes her. She is a terrific editor and will be a great addition to the talented Putnam team. We are looking forward to having her apply her instincts and editorial acumen to help further build our list of bestselling authors.”

Ms. Rucci said, “I am excited to work with the terrific team assembled at Putnam. I’ve long admired Putnam’s commitment to its authors as well as its innovative and aggressive publishing campaigns.”

Ms. Rucci has built a reputation for having an acute eye for great writing talent as well as being a hardworking editor able to help her authors immeasurably on the page. New York Times-bestselling authors she has worked with include Jeffrey Deaver, Lauren Weisberger, A.J. Jacobs, Sandra Brown, Jan Burke, and Lisa Lutz. She also edited the critically acclaimed New York Times-bestselling and Costa-nominated Little Bee by Chris Cleave, the Costa Award-winning The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney, the New York Times-bestselling memoir If I Am Missing or Dead by Janine Latus, and Helene Cooper’s New York Times-bestselling House at Sugar Beach, which was a Starbucks pick and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.

During her 13-year tenure at Simon & Schuster, she also edited such bestselling authors as Hunter S. Thompson and Gigi Levangie Grazer.

Ms. Rucci is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied English and Creative Writing, and she attended the Radcliffe Publishing Course.

The Amy Einhorn Books and Marian Wood Books imprints--which reside at Putnam--will remain separate and continue to report directly to Mr. Held, as will Putnam’s publisher and editor in chief Neil Nyren.

G. P. Putnam’s Sons is the industry’s #1 New York Times bestselling hardcover imprint, a position it has held for more than two decades. In 2009, Putnam achieved 34 New York Times hardcover bestsellers for the year.

Putnam's is a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., the U.S. member of the internationally Penguin Group. Penguin Group (USA) is one of the leading U.S. adult and children's trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Viking, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, The Penguin Press, Riverhead Books, Dutton, Penguin Books, Berkley Books, Gotham Books, Portfolio, New American Library, Plume, Tarcher, Philomel, Grosset & Dunlap, Puffin, and Frederick Warne, among others. The Penguin Group (http://www.penguin.com) is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.