Charles Nurnberg, co-founder and publisher of Imagine Publishing, and former CEO and publisher of Sterling Publishing, is developing a new children’s imprint at Quarto Publishing Group USA. Moondance Press, slated for launch in fall 2016, expects to publish 20 titles annually. Nurnberg will leave his post at Imagine at the end of May, will transition during BookExpo America, and then officially start work on the imprint in June.
“Moondance Press will publish edutainment-quality books that will entertain and inform children,” said Nurnberg. “Kids will enjoy themselves, but will always be learning – often without knowing that they are.”
The list will feature nonfiction titles, with a focus on science, nature and discovery, picture books, as well as puzzle and activity books. In addition, the imprint will publish a select number of adult nonfiction books. The new list, which has not yet been finalized, will consist of entirely new titles, most of them published in hardcover.
As head of Sterling, Nurnberg oversaw the company’s children’s publishing operations, but became especially steeped in the children's market when Sterling acquired Puff, the Magic Dragon, a picture book adaptation of the famous Peter, Paul, and Mary song, co-written by Peter Yarrow. Nurnberg became personally involved in the publication of the title, which went on to become a bestseller, and its successors.
When he left the B&N imprint and launched Imagine Publishing in 2008, Nurnberg brought Yarrow into the fold, forming the Peter Yarrow Books children's imprint. Charlesbridge Publishing purchased Imagine in 2009, and Nurnberg stayed on as v-p and publisher.
Moondance will join Quarto’s growing children’s program in the U.S., which launched in 2014 with the creation of Walter Foster Jr. It expanded with the addition of Quarto UK imprints Frances Lincoln Children’s Books and QEB Publishing, now published through Quarto USA.
“We’re thrilled to expand Quarto’s children’s publishing program with Charles Nurnberg,” said Ken Fund, president of Quarto Publishing Group USA. “Charles’s editorial vision is a great fit with the Quarto brand and we look forward to launching this new imprint.”
