Around this time last year, Melanie Kroupa, who had had her own imprint at FSG Books for Young Readers since 2000, was let go as part of Macmillan’s reorganization of its children’s division. But news came late yesterday that Kroupa will be joining Marshall Cavendish Children's Books as an editor-at-large on January 1, reporting to publisher Margery Cuyler. Kroupa will work for the publisher, which is located in Tarrytown, N.Y., from her office in Dedham, Mass.

Kroupa, whose book Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (FSG) won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature last month, will acquire and edit approximately six books a year for Cavendish. Cuyler said she expects Kroupa’s books to help enrich the publisher’s young adult and middle-grade fiction list, which it is looking to expand. “I thought Melanie would bring strength to those categories,” Cuyler said. “We have grown to the point where we welcome the quality and taste that Melanie will bring to the list.” Marshall Cavendish, in its 12th year, publishes about 90 books annually and is best known for its nonfiction books for the institutional market. Its children's division ended the 2008-09 fiscal year 27% above the prior year.

Before FSG, Kroupa had her own imprint at DK Ink and Orchard Books. Among the authors she has edited are Tim Wynne-Jones, Martha Brooks, Janice N. Harrington, and Cari Best. She and Cuyler worked together at Atlantic Monthly Press, and Cuyler said, “I’ve always admired her. I interviewed a lot of people for this job but I thought she was the best fit.” Kroupa said joining Cavendish is “a way to keep my oar in publishing and hopefully keep working with some writers I’ve worked with for a long time, as well as find new voices, which I think is one of the most exciting parts of being an editor.”

In addition to her arrangement with Cavendish, Kroupa will continue to edit a select number of titles elsewhere. Cuyler said Kroupa is welcome to show projects that aren’t “quite right” for Cavendish to other publishers, “as long as her main priority is Marshall Cavendish.”