Random House Children's Books will launch imprints Anne Schwartz Books and Random House Studio. For the past 15 years, Anne Schwartz and Lee Wade have published titles under the Schwartz & Wade Books imprint that have received nearly 400 starred reviews and numerous awards. The final S&W list will be released in the spring of 2021. The two new imprints are launching in the summer of 2021.
Anne Schwartz Books, led by v-p and publisher Schwartz, will focus on picture books, as well as select middle-grade and YA fiction and nonfiction titles, "publishing critically acclaimed titles by renowned authors and illustrators, and introducing innovative talent." Schwartz will report to Melanie Nolan, v-p and publisher, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Random House Studio, headed by v-p and publisher Wade, is focusing on picture books "with a strong and recognizable aesthetic, and they will also publish other formats, especially books with an illustrative or design component." Random House Studio will be part of Random House Books for Young Readers, and Lee will report to Mallory Loehr, senior v-p and publisher, Random House Books for Young Readers Group.
S&W team members Ann Kelley, Rachael Cole and Anne-Marie Varga will move into new roles within RHCB. Maria Modugno, executive director, editorial, will join Wade at Random House Studio.
"These new ventures are an exciting and natural next step for us as we continue to build our picture book publishing program at Random House Children's," said Barbara Marcus, RHCB president & publisher. "Both Anne and Lee had an enthusiastic appetite for the next chapter of their extraordinary careers to further hone their distinct creative styles, which you can see so clearly by the different titles they have each acquired over the years. Lee will now take on more solo editorial projects, as she has long been the design force for S&W. These new imprints will really enable us to expand both our literary and commercial footprint in picture book publishing in a focused way, with two of the most seasoned experts in the field. I am so eager to see their unique editorial approaches flourish with these new imprints, as they and their talented teams create books and stories that will entertain and inspire young readers for generations to come."