Kenneth Wright will join Penguin Books for Young Readers as vice president and publisher of Viking Children’s Books. Prior to this move, Wright worked as a literary agent at Writers House. Some of the writers and illustrators he has worked with include Caldecott Medalist Allen Say, Where Things Come Back author John Corey Whaley and Charles and Emma YA novelist Deborah Heiligman.

Regina Hayes will step down as president and publisher of the imprint, becoming editor-at-large. Hayes has been in children’s publishing for 30 years. She has worked with New York Times bestselling author Sarah Dessen, Speak author Laurie Halse Anderson and Max & Ruby series creator Rosemary Wells.

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Penguin Young Readers Group author Sarah Dessen (pictured, via) will shake things up with the Dessen Sweetery Truck.

Associate director of publicity Elyse Marshall explained in an email: “Sarah will head out to the truck to hand out free whoopee pies to fans and hungry BEAers. There will be three flavors available: red velvet, chocolate, and Sarah’s Strawberry Surprise (a custom whoopee pie). The truck will be entirely wrapped in Sarah Dessen branding, with all her book covers featured. There will be giveaways available for a few lucky attendees before the Dessen Sweetery Truck moves onto it’s second location of the day: Union Square.”

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Owner David Bolduc emailed customers to explain: “Publishers place certain expectations on us when we host events, and so in order to continually attract authors, we must fulfill these expectations. Oftentimes, in return for sending an author to a bookstore, publishers expect us to attract a certain number of people and sell a certain number of books.”

Is it fair for bookstores to implement this policy? The store typically hosts 170 events per year. One May event features popular teen writer Sarah Dessen. The top of the event page currently proclaims: “this event is free & open to the public.” With this new policy, perhaps that won’t be the case anymore. (via BookTV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post was updated for clarification.

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Moore, author of picture book Freckleface Strawberry, will preside over the children’s writers’ breakfast. Kaling (a writer at The Office)  and Lehrer (author of both fiction and nonfiction) will host two adult writers’ breakfasts.

Here’s more from the press release: “The other speakers who will be joining the hosts for these popular events include Sarah Dessen, Roger Ebert, Anne Enright, Jefferey Eugenides, Charlaine Harris, Kevin Henkes, Diane Keaton, Erik Larson, and Brian Selznick.  In addition, Katherine Paterson, who is the current Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, will be saying a few words at the Children’s Breakfast on behalf of the Children’s Book Council.”

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Prior to this move, Feldman spent 20 years at Darhansoff, Verrill, Feldman. She has worked with authors on titles that included Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. She will continue to represent popular teen author Sarah Dessen.

Feldman had this quote, from the release: ” I’m impressed by how well [Writers House] have grasped  the complexities and opportunities of digital’s emergence in book publishing.  Most importantly, they’re big enough to have the kind of leverage needed in today’s complicated marketplace, but their approach reflects the kind of personalized service usually associated with boutique agencies.”

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Ever since Harry Potter, adults have been dipping into the YA bookshelf.

Counting on our readers’ collective knowledge of books, GalleyCat Reviews regularly features curated book lists from Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations. The site includes the crossover list, 7 Beach Reads You Can Grab Off Your T(w)een’s Bookshelf.

Over the last year, Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations has created more than 385 lists–giving reading advice on everything from book club books to beach reads. Working with this carefully curated publication, we will share our favorite lists with GalleyCat readers.

Check out the complete list below, and add your favorite YA books for adults in the comments section.

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In another rule change, the 2010 competition will permit novels that have been previously self-published. Authors can submit their work from Jan. 25, 2010 until Feb. 7, 2010. The judges will accept up to 10,000 total initial entries–5,000 entries in each category. Winners will be revealed June 14, 2010–earning a publishing contract with Penguin and a $15,000 advance.

Here’s more about the contest’s long process: “Amazon.com editors will select 1,000 entries from each category to advance to the next round. In the subsequent round, Amazon.com editors and at least one top reviewer on Amazon.com will read excerpts of the 2,000 entries and narrow the pool to 500 quarter-finalists (250 in each category). Reviewers from Publishers Weekly will then read, rate and review the full manuscripts, and 50 semi-finalists for each category will be selected. Penguin editors will evaluate the manuscripts of the 50 general fiction and 50 young adult semi-finalists, and choose three finalists for each award. Two panels of esteemed publishing professionals will then read and post their critiques of the top three manuscripts on www.amazon.com.”

Read more about the final judges after the jump.

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