Jeffrey Yamaguchi has been hired as the director of digital marketing at ABRAMS, the first person to hold that new title.

Previously, Yamaguchi served as director of digital marketing for the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. He guided many digital projects, including Julia Child‘s Mastering the Art of French Cooking app. Here’s more about the new post, from the release:

he will oversee the company’s web and social media program; spearhead creative online campaigns for major titles and authors; and execute all digital initiatives in conjunction with ABRAMS’ existing marketing efforts. He will work with both the adult and children’s publicity and marketing departments, and with ABRAMS’ digital assets and publishing technology department.

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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 Robert Anasi will talk about his new book, The Last Bohemia: Scenes from the Life of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Hear him at Word Bookstore on Tuesday, August 14th starting 7 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY)

Celebrate the 100th birthday of Julia Child at the powerHouse Arena. Join the party on Wednesday, August 15th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY)

Writers Christopher Irving and Seth Kushner will present their new title, Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics at a conversation event. Check it out on Thursday, August 16th at Greenlight Bookstore starting 7:30 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY)

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Kate Duffy, the beloved Kensington Books editorial director, passed away today.

Last year, Publishers Weekly recorded that video interview with the editor, a touching tribute to a life lived with books. Barnes & Noble Book Clubs credits the editor to rescuing Judith McNaught‘s novel, “Whitney, My Love” from the slush pile.

Here’s a memorial post from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books: “When I tried to explain to my husband why I was so blown away by meeting Kate and talking with her at RWA, I couldn’t figure out how to explain who she was in romance. She wasn’t just an editor or a fan of the genre. ‘She’s the Julia Child of romance,’ I said.”

As Julia Child‘s recent bestseller status proved, a popular movie can always drive blockbuster book sales. But today, the NY Times recorded what may be a first for publishing–a video game pushed sales higher for a classic comic book.

Grant Morrison and Dave McKean‘s dark, psychologically-complex book, “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” was released in 1989, but a special edition just debuted at #10 on the paperback Graphic Books Bestseller List. A brand new video game by the same name debuted in stores this week, sending a new generation of video game fans scrambling to the bookstore.

Here’s more from the article: “[It is] an electronic adventure which pits the Dark Knight against his deranged foes. The game has received many positive reviews and boasts some incredible graphics. A confrontation between Batman and Harley Quinn can be previewed here.”

Yesterday news broke that Julia Child‘s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” will debut at number one on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous–reportedly the first time that title reached the top spot.

Two other books, “Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom” and “My Life in France,” with also be high on the bestseller list. Most of those sales have been driven by the recent film, Julie & Julia. According to Knopf, the publisher has reprinted over 1.2 million Julia Child books over the last month to keep up with demand. Child would be proud of her new success, as the chef’s 1974 profile in the New Yorker by Calvin Tomkins proves.

Here’s an excerpt about Child’s frustrated career as a novelist: “As a member of Smith’s Class of 1934, Julia was planning to be Great Woman Novelist. ‘They laughed when I sat down at the typewriter,’ she told an interviewer in San Francisco. ‘And they were right, too, because nothing much ever came of the plan. I wrote for the Smith College Tatler, and after I graduated I went home for a while, and then I went to New York and tried to get a job with The New Yorker, but they turned me down. The woman-novelist idea was very vague and unformed.’” (Via Alfred A. Knopf)

To promote the cookbooks that inspired the film “Julie and Julia,” Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group staffers have been blogging their attempts to follow the recipes of Julia Child.

In this post, Knopf assistant managing editor Jessica Freeman-Slade braves a fairly complicated recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon: “After this recipe, over 5 hours spent in the kitchen, I was exhausted, but ready to share this spectacular, savory, brisket-y, onion-y, mushroom-y delight with friends. And they LOVED it–not an ounce was left. Just the way Julia would want it. Bon Appetit!”

For the vegetarians in the audience, the staff worked hard to make Ratatouille for a dinner a party. And, as GalleyCat reported, you still have until 11:59 pm (Eastern Daylight Time) on August 15, 2009 to enter the Be Like Julie contest to win a bookshelf full of cookbooks.

Celebrating the release of Julie & Julia, Alfred A. Knopf has urged readers to throw a dinner party to win a copy of every single book ever written by cooking guru Julia Child.

The film Julie & Julia follows the adventures Julie Powell, a blogger who eventually wrote a book about her experiences throwing dinner parties with Julia Child recipes. In a new Knopf contest, readers can photograph and blog their own Child-inspired parties. One winner will take home a cooking bounty.

Here’s the long prize list: “One (1) winner will receive one (1) copy each of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, My Life in France, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, The Way to Cook, and Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, all by Julia Child, as well as a one-year gift subscription to Bon Appetit, the 50th Anniversary Bon Appetit Cookbook, and The Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook. The winner will also receive one (1) Le Creuset 8-quart French oven in flame from Williams-Sonoma.”