Simon & Schuster restructured today, promoting Brian Belfiglio to vice president and director of publicity of both the Scribner and Touchstone publicity departments.

Touchstone director of publicity Marcia Burch will depart on February 11. Both moves were part of a reorganization that began at the publisher in October.

Here’s more about the reorganization from Scribner Publishing Group president Susan Moldow: “In an area of our business that invites much hand-wringing, Brian brings an admirable degree of level-headedness, focus, and teamwork to the job. His ability to corral consensus, manage systems, and rally the troops, not to mention his stellar relations with media contacts, will now benefit books and authors on behalf of both the Scribner and Touchstone imprints.”

Stephen King’s longtime editor Nan Graham has been promoted to publisher and senior VP of Simon & Schuster’s Scribner imprint.

Graham has spent 18 years at the imprint, working with authors that included Don DeLillo, Miranda July, Frank McCourt, Annie Proulx, and Colm Toibin. Scribner Publishing Group president Susan Moldow had this statement in the release:

“As if Nan hadn’t amply proven how deserved this promotion is by her firm hand in shaping the list and staff and insuring the growth of the Scribner imprint over the last eighteen years, her performance of late surely demonstrates that she continues to exercise her singular editorial instincts, abilities, and leadership qualities at the highest levels.”

Scribner will release a medical memoir from former Vice President Dick Cheney next fall, a book written with the politician’s cardiologist, Jonathan Reiner, M.D..

Attorney Robert B. Barnett negotiated the deal with Susan Moldow. Scribner senior editor Shannon Welch will edit. Cheney will donate “a portion of the authors’ net proceeds” to charity. Here’s more about the book, from the release:

the vice president will tell the very personal story of his 35-year battle with heart disease, from his first heart attack in 1978 to the heart transplant he received in 2012.  Dr. Reiner will provide insight into the incredible technological and medical breakthroughs that have changed the face of cardiac care in the last four decades, giving hope to the 80 million Americans suffering from heart disease.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has landed a book deal with Scribner to write a memoir with her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.  No publication date has been set and the book is currently untitled.

Here’s more from the release: “[It] will be a deeply personal account of Mark Kelly’s and Gabrielle Giffords’ lives together.  The memoir will recount their courtship, Ms. Giffords’ rise in U.S. politics, and the tragic January 8th shooting in Arizona which killed six people and gravely wounded Representative Giffords and twelve others.  The book will also tell the story of her recovery process and will trace Mark Kelly’s career from decorated Desert Storm combat pilot to his recent mission as the commander of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s final flight.”

Attorney Robert B. Barnett negotiated the deal with executive VP Susan Moldow and editor-in-chief Nan Graham. Author Jeffrey Zaslow will help the couple write the book.

Alice Hoffman has inked a deal to publish her next novel with Simon & Schuster’s Scribner imprint. The Dovekeepers will be released on October 4th.  THE DOVEKEEPERS on October 4, 2011.

Publisher Susan Moldow and editor-in-chief Nan Graham acquired the book. The deal was negotiated by Elaine Markson of the Markson Thoma Literary Agency.  Graham will edit.  Last month, Hoffman (pictured, via) published The Red Garden with Random House’s Crown Books imprint.

Here’s more about the book, from the release: “Set in ancient Israel, THE DOVEKEEPERS richly imagines the Romans’ siege of Masada, one of the most significant events in Jewish history. Five years in the writing, THE DOVEKEEPERS has already been hailed by Toni Morrison as ‘a major contribution to twenty-first century literature.’”

If the trio on the left – Donna Hanover, Linda Fairstein and Mary Higgins Clark – isn’t indicative that former prosecutor-turned-bestselling crime writer Fairstein’s launch party at Montblanc for her newest crime novel, BAD BLOOD, was a cut above the usual fare, then the swarm of TV cameras (Extra and Fox, we were told) and Cindy Adams rushing up and down in boots that could only be described as Uggs on steroids might be the best sign that this event will merit more media attention than most GalleyCat-able book parties. The adoring crowd – which included Fairstein’s husband, Justin Feldman, FOX News anchor Rosanna Scotto and M.J. Rose) marveled at the store’s collection of luxury watches, jewelry and especially its pens – the last item especially dear to Fairstein’s heart. “I never leave the house without a Montblanc pen,” she remarked to the crowd after signing dozens of copies of her new novel.

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