She will be succeeded by Rowan Mansell, who told the Bookseller: "I have been working in events for the last four and a half years, co-ordinating and leading leadership/governor events for schools in Hertfordshire. & Ireland announced a number of changes to the team for 2022, including Naomi Gane stepping down from her role as conference & events manager. In a statement, a spokesperson for Simon & Schuster said the publisher was "shocked and horrified" by the allegations against Bernardini and that they had suspended him pending further information, adding: "The safekeeping of our authors' intellectual property is of primary importance to Simon & Schuster, and for all in the publishing industry, and we are grateful to the FBI for investigating these incidents and bringing charges against the alleged perpetrator."
Some had suspected the individual was a literary scout, attempting to secure information to make film and television deals ahead of others." None of the books ever turned up online, and everything from celebrity releases to debut novels by unknown writers were targeted. "Some authors, agents, editors, scouts and even judges for the Booker prize have been victims of phishing scams involving manuscripts of highly anticipated novels by Margaret Atwood, Sally Rooney and actor Ethan Hawke. The arrest "may mark the start of the end of a mystery that has fascinated and appalled the literary world for five years, during which hundreds of unpublished manuscripts have been targeted," the Guardian wrote. He was charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in a New York district court, with the indictment saying Bernardini had registered more than 160 fake Internet domains to impersonate others since 2016. The FBI alleged that 29-year-old Bernardini, an Italian citizen who worked as a rights coordinator at Simon & Schuster UK, had "impersonated, defrauded, and attempted to defraud, hundreds of individuals" to obtain unpublished and draft works. Kennedy Airport in New York, the Guardian reported. For more information, contact Linda-Marie Barrett, SIBA executive director, via e-mail.įilippo Bernardini, a "mysterious fraudster who impersonated publishers and agents to steal book manuscripts in an international phishing scam," was arrested Wednesday at John F. Donations in honor of Wanda Jewell can be made here.
Scholarship applications will open February 1.
Through SIBA, Wanda has supported us and our work for years now, and we are thrilled in turn to support booksellers in their professional development." In a statement, they said, "When we created our community almost two years ago, our original mission included the phrase 'to support independent bookstores' and we can't think of a better way to celebrate Wanda Jewell's contribution to SIBA than by honoring her with this scholarship. Initial funding for the scholarship comes from the four author co-hosts of Friends & Fiction-Mary Kay Andrews, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Kristin Harmel and Patti Callahan Henry. So much gratitude to SIBA and writers and booksellers I cannot express." And to have many of my favorite writers stepping forward to fund this is simply the best gift. "I'm so humbled by this scholarship in my name," said Jewell.
Funded initially by authors, the scholarship provides financial support for bookseller professional development through education and networking at in-person SIBA-sponsored events. The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance has created the Wanda Jewell Scholarship Fund in honor of its former executive director, who retired in 2020.