John Duff, publisher of Perigee for 23 years, is retiring at the end of the month. Madeline McIntosh, president of Penguin Publishing Group, called him "irreplaceable," but noted that Duff "has brought his characteristic careful attention to helping plan a smooth transition for his team, and for their books and authors."
As a result of Duff's retirement, Joel Fotinos, v-p, publisher, Tarcher Books, will become v-p, publisher, of a newly combined Tarcher Perigee imprint. McIntosh said that the two lists "have always been complementary, each bringing a slightly different approach to many shared categories of focus: creativity, wellness, self-improvement, parenting, and spirituality. This alignment extends and expands their longstanding operational unity: as individual imprints, they already have been supported by many of the same teams, including marketing, publicity, and managing editorial."
Before joining Tarcher in 1996, Fotinos held worked at several bookstores, most notably as the religion and philosophy buyer at the Tattered Cover in Denver, Colo. "He has successfully developed a list known not just for its core strengths in religion and spirituality, but also across a broad spectrum of topics grounded in self-empowerment, wellness, creativity, and parenting," McIntosh said.
The senior editorial staff reporting directly to Fotinos are Mitch Horowitz, v-p, director of backlist and reissues, and editorial directors Sara Carder and Marian Lizzi. Brianna Yamashita, executive director, marketing and publicity, for Tarcher and Perigee, continues to report to Fotinos. All other members of Tarcher and Perigee are continuing with the new combined entity.
John Duff began his career in Canada as a librarian and a bookseller, then came to the U.S. to become director, special interest publishing, at Doubleday. Since 1992, at Perigee, his mission, McIntosh said, "has centered on books that are either completely useful-- targeted, prescriptive non-fiction--or delightfully "useless"--rewarding readers' needs for the fun, the curious, the playfully esoteric. This approach has given Perigee the flexibility to bring to market a range of national bestsellers as diverse as The Book of Useless Information, Keri Smith's Wreck This Journal, Joanna Lund's Healthy Exchanges, Daniel Solin's The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read, and Goldie Hawn's 10 Mindful Minutes."
She noted that he has "no shortage of interests to enjoy post-Perigee, such as traveling, gardening, volunteering, and of course, reading. But among us, he will be missed not only for his accomplishments on behalf of the business, but also as a warm and generous mentor to so many. I know you will join me in thanking him for everything he has done for our books, our authors, and for Penguin."
