HarperCollins Publishers revealed its new Christian publishing division today, combining Zondervan and Thomas Nelson into a single division.

Thomas Nelson CEO Mark Schoenwald will lead the new division and Zondervan CEO Scott Macdonald will step down.

Here’s more from the release: “Schoenwald will remain based in Nashville, Tenn., and will spend part of his time in Grand Rapids, Mich., where Zondervan will continue to operate from its current location. The two companies have different, though complementary, missions and both will continue to acquire and publish books specific to those missions, competing as they have in the past, but collaborating where appropriate.”

Read more

This week, Globe Pequot Press is hiring a publicist, while Springer Science + Business Media needs a books editor. Berghahn Books is seeking a sales manager, and Barnes & Noble/Sparknotes is on the hunt for a SparkLife comedy writer. Get the scoop on these openings and more below, and find additional just-posted gigs on Mediabistro.

• Publicist Globe Pequot Press (Guilford, CT)
• Editor, Books Springer Science + Business Media (New York, NY)
• Sales Manager Berghahn Books (Brooklyn, NY)
• SparkLife Comedy Writer Barnes & Noble/Sparknotes (New York, NY)
• Contributors for Guided Meditation How-to Book Open Air Publishing (New York, NY)

Find more great publishing jobs on the GalleyCat job board. Looking to hire? Tap into our network of talented GalleyCat pros and post a risk-free job listing. For real-time openings and employment news, follow @MBJobPost.

What if novelists opened for rock bands?

Novelist Emma Straub (pictured) will tour with Magnetic Fields in November, reading from her debut novel, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures. Click here for ticket information.

Straub wrote about the upcoming dates here: “This November, I will be hitting the road again with my dear friends The Magnetic Fields … this time, as the opening act. I’ll be reading before their shows in Detroit, Pittsburgh, and DC! Expect to hear a short section of the novel as well as some other fun pieces … The above photo was taken on the last night of the first US leg of the Tour at the Bottom of the Sea. You can see all of our adventures here.”

Read more

Scholastic has revealed plans for a Harry Potter Reading Club, an online destination designed for readers of J.K. Rowling‘s book series.

The site is home to a discussion guide for each of the seven Harry Potter novels and includes discussion questions based on the themes and events in the books. Every month, the publisher will add new discussion themes.

As a special feature for the new site, Rowling will be participating in a live webcast in which the author will virtually visit classrooms and answer questions from students. Rowling will stationed at her hometown in Edinburgh, Scotland, answering questions from kids across the United States. The event will take place on October 11, 2012 at noon ET. Schools that would like to participate can sign up at this link. Read more

We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending July 29, 2012–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.

(Debuted at #2 in Children’s Series) Magic Tree House: A Perfect Time for Pandas by Mary Pope Osborne & illustrated by Sal Murdocca: “Time-traveling brother-and-sister team Jack and Annie have to find a certain kind of food—the fourth thing needed to save Merlin’s beloved penguin, Penny. The magic tree house whisks them off to a village in the mountains of southeast China, close to a world-famous panda reserve. Will it be their easiest adventure yet? Not a chance! Jack and Annie don’t know it, but they’ve arrived on the day of a historic earthquake!” (July 2012)

(Debuted at #2 in Hardcover Fiction) Broken Harbor by Tana French: “At first, Scorcher and his rookie partner, Richie, think it’s going to be an easy solve. But too many small things can’t be explained. The half dozen baby monitors, their cameras pointing at holes smashed in the Spains’ walls. The files erased from the Spains’ computer. The story Jenny told her sister about a shadowy intruder who was slipping past all the locks.” (July 2012)

Read more

Indie romance novelist Sylvain Reynard has inked a “substantial seven-figure deal” with Penguin Group’s Berkley imprint for Gabriel’s Inferno and Gabriel’s Rapture.

The book began as Twilight fan fiction, telling the story of “a sinful exploration of sex, love, and redemption” between a Dante scholar and his graduate student. Reynard had published with Omnific Publishing, a publisher “nurturing talented amateur writers into professional published authors.”

Knight Agency president Deidre Knight and co-agent Melissa Jeglinski represented Omnific Publishing in the deal with senior editor Cindy Hwang. Berkley will print 500,000 trade paperback copies of each book.

Read more

Here are some literary events to jump-start your week. To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.

Author Charity Shumway will be celebrating her debut novel, Ten Girls to Watch, at the powerHouse Arena. Join her on Tuesday, July 31st from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY)

Author Karen Thompson Walker and writer Hannah Trini will headline a discussion event. See them on Wednesday, August 1st at the powerHouse Arena from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY)

Meet one of the creators behind The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, William Joyce, at a Books of Wonder event. Check it out on Saturday, August 4th from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (New York, NY)

Read more

Malcolm Gladwell said “I am heartbroken” after hearing that Jonah Lehrer resigned from The New Yorker. Lehrer admitted that he had fabricated Bob Dylan quotes in his book, Imagine: How Creativity Works.

While the WWD reporter wasn’t sure if Gladwell had read the Tablet essay that exposed the fabrication, WWD had this quote from Gladwell: “I am heartbroken. Jonah is a friend. He is a decent and sweet and hugely talented guy, and I cannot imagine what he is going through right now,”

The book has already sold 200,000 copies, but the publisher has stopped the presses. Links to Lehrer’s book have been removed at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Read more

Journalist Lynn Sherr has landed a book deal for a biography of the late Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.

The book will explore “the unusually private woman beyond the spacesuit,” including recollections from her partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy–Ride’s obituary revealed that the astronaut was a gay woman. ICM Partners agent Esther Newberg negotiated the deal with editorial director Alice Mayhew. Publication is set for 2013.

Here’s more from the release: “Sherr covered the space shuttle program for ABC news for more than 5 years, from the first flight in 1981 through the Challenger explosion and the investigation into what happened.  Sherr got to know Sally Ride very well, both as a subject and later as a friend, and she has exclusive access to Ride’s family for this book. This is a story that will be told by the people who knew her best:  her family, her friends, her crewmates and commanders at NASA, her colleagues on a series of investigative commissions, and the other pioneering women in her astronaut class.”

In the ancient tradition of connecting poetry with the Olympics, this week NPR is hosting the NPR Poetry Games, a sports-inspired poetry contest.

All week NPR is bringing together poets from around the world who will recite their works in a friendly competition. The contest features the poets Kazim Ali from the United States; Ales Steger from Slovenia; Mbali Vilakazi from South Africa; Monica de la Torre from Mexico; and Ouyang Yu from China and Australia.

Every morning, NPR listeners can hear the poems read on the show Morning Edition. Listeners are invited to vote on their favorite poem at www.npr.org/poetrygames, where audio recordings and texts of the poems will be saved. Read more