Koen-Levy Closes

Koen-Levy Book Wholesalers, the year-old regional wholesaling operation, stopped shipping books last week and will close within three months. The company was formed by Levy Home Entertainment following the bankruptcy of Koen Book Distributors and used Koen's New Jersey warehouse and much of the same staff. Levy president Carol Kloster said Koen-Levy was not performing as expected, adding that all publishers will be paid in full.

Nelson Opts Out of CBA Show

Thomas Nelson will not attend CBA's winter trade show, CBA Advance, next year, but will instead host a three-day open house for its top Christian retail accounts in spring 2008 at its Nashville headquarters. While there was speculation Nelson's defection may result in an exodus of other publishers from the show, no other houses said last week that they were leaving the conference.

CBA president Bill Anderson said that while Nelson's open house plan may work for that company, it was not practical for all publishers.

NEA Translation Winners

The National Endowment for the Arts has presented its International Literature Awards for 2007 to Archipelago Books of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Dalkey Archive Press of Champaign, Ill.; and Etruscan Press of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The awards grant $10,000 to small presses to publish works in translation.

Kraus Named Llewellyn Publisher

Bill Krause has been named publisher of New Age house Llewellyn Worldwide. Krause, who came to the company in 2005 as acquisitions manager and associate publisher, takes the publishing reins from Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, who is now chairman. Sandra Weschcke, formerly secretary/ treasurer, is now president and treasurer.

Harris Rises at ICM

Sloan Harris has been given the added title of co-head of publications at ICM. Harris will share the title with executive v-p Esther Newberg. Amanda Urban, who was co-head of publications, will shift to oversee the agency international business. Harris's extensive client list includes Hampton Sides and Maureen Dowd.

McDonald Rises at IPS

Janet McDonald has been promoted to v-p of client acquisitions at Ingram Publisher Service. McDonald worked at Solutions America as v-p of strategic planning before arriving at Ingram in 1999 as v-p and general manager of the Christian distributor Spring Arbor.

Sagebrush Changes Name

The library services company Sagebrush Books has changed its name to Tandem Library Group. With a new Web site and a new logo, the new name more accurately describes its business.