Scholastic has appointed Catherine Bell and Steve Thompson to be co-managing directors of Scholastic UK. Bell, currently U.K. sales and marketing head of DK, will be head of publishing, marketing and trade sales, effective September 10. Thompson, currently managing director of book fairs for Scholastic UK, will oversee operations. The two are replacing Alan Hurcombe who is stepping down.
Commenting on the appointments, Scholastic CEO and chairman Dick Robinson said: “This past fiscal year has seen a significant turnaround for Scholastic UK, which attained a strong operating profit for the year based on cost reduction and our outstanding children’s trade list, including the Hunger Games trilogy. After a period of focusing on reducing costs, we are now ready to resume our drive for profitable growth.”
Back in the U.S., Scholastic has added a line of nonfiction titles from National Geographic Kids to Storia, the company’s e-reading app. A collection of books from National Geographic for Kids will be available on Storia through the Scholastic Book Clubs in August.
Launched in March, Storia can be downloaded for free on PC, iPad, iPhones and all iOS systems hardware (and this fall on Android tablets and smartphones), giving readers access to about 2,000 titles. Although the majority are Scholastic books, the company’s plan has always been to add digital offerings from other publishers. “We’re delighted to be associated with Scholastic’s Storia platform as it gives us yet another way to bring children, parents and teachers the National Geographic Kids books they love,” said Nancy Feresten, National Geographic’s senior v-p for Kids Publishing and Media.
