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| Arthur A. Levine | |
Arthur A. Levine, head of his own imprint at Scholastic and responsible for introducing Harry Potter to the U.S., is leaving Scholastic to form an independent publishing company.
Levine joined Scholastic and founded his imprint in 1996, after a stint as editor in chief at Knopf Books for Young Readers. Besides the work of J.K. Rowling, he has introduced the work of Markus Zusak, Nahoko Uehashi, Daniella Carmi, Luis Sepúlveda, and Jaclyn Moriarty to U.S. readers. The imprint has also published titles by Emma Donoghue, Daniel José Older, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Mike Jung, Martha Brockenbrough, Sarah Moon, Eric Gansworth and more. Almost a third of the work is illustrated.
Scholastic will continue to be the U.S. publishing home of the Harry Potter titles as well as the Levine imprint's backlist, which includes more than 300 works of literary fiction, picture books, and nonfiction for children and teenagers, "reflecting a diverse array of voices and winning countless awards along the way," the company noted.
Ellie Berger, executive v-p & president, Scholastic Trade Books, said, "Reflecting upon the many contributions Arthur and his editorial teams have made to Scholastic's publishing program these last 23 years, I am very proud of the many award-winning, bestselling, and beloved books created. We wish Arthur continued success as he builds his own independent publishing company."