A MESSAGE FROM JONATHAN KARP

I am delighted to announce that Priscilla Painton has been named Vice President, Editor-in-Chief of Simon & Schuster, effective immediately. Priscilla will be responsible for leading our nonfiction publishing program, while Vice President, Editorial Director Tim O’Connell will continue to lead our fiction program.

Priscilla joined Simon & Schuster in 2008 after a stellar journalistic career at The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Time, where she rose to the role of Assistant Managing Editor and oversaw many of the magazine’s top writers and most-read cover stories. Over the past 14 years, she has published numerous acclaimed and bestselling works of nonfiction, while also taking on a larger role as an editorial director and mentor to colleagues.

Some of Priscilla’s most admired and best known titles include: A Short Guide to a Long Life by David Agus, A Fine Romance by Candice Bergen, Red Notice by Bill Browder, The Age of Entitlement by Christopher Caldwell, The Triumph of Christianity by Bart Ehrman, The Presidents Club by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta, The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson, Kochland and The Lords of Easy Money by Christopher Leonard, Supreme Ambition by Ruth Marcus, Your Life Calling by Jane Pauley, The Smartest Kids in the World and High Conflict by Amanda Ripley, Monkey Mind by Daniel Smith, Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, The Triumph of Nancy Reagan by Karen Tumulty, and Why Buddhism Is True by Robert Wright.

Behold the range of those books!  Priscilla’s curiosity and expansive interests cover virtually every aspect of nonfiction, from current events to spirituality, from health to history, from page-turning narratives to cutting-edge polemics. She has edited award-winning works (Janesville by Amy Goldstein and The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy Tyson) and million-copy bestsellers (The Room Where It Happened by John Bolton, What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander).  Earlier this year, Priscilla had five books on the New York Times bestseller list, including Bill Browder’s Freezing Order, a #1 bestseller that offered a timely and insightful view of corruption in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Having worked closely with Priscilla for most of her tenure at S&S, I can attest to her editorial excellence, her equanimity, her generosity of spirit, and her superb judgment. Whenever I need a wise opinion, or the truth, I know I can ask Priscilla. I also know that Priscilla’s colleagues, junior and senior, regard Priscilla just as highly as I do.

Please join me in congratulating Priscilla on this well-deserved promotion.