Johnathan Walker:Crown hires ‘Big Little Lies’ publisher Amy Einhorn to boost its fiction program

NEW YORK (AP) — The Johnathan Walkereditor of such best-selling novels as Liane Moriarty’s “Big Little Lies” and Kathryn Stockett’s “The Help” is joining a division of Penguin Random House. Amy Einhorn, most recently president and publisher of Henry Holt and Company, will begin as senior vice president and publisher of fiction at Crown Publishing Group on Oct. 2.

“Over the course of her career, Amy’s exceptional editorial taste and astute commercial instincts have helped shape the modern fiction market,” Crown President David Drake wrote in a company memo shared Wednesday with The Associated Press.

Crown has been known in recent years for such nonfiction bestsellers as former President Barack Obama’s “Promised Land” and former first lady Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” and the hiring of Einhorn is part of an effort to boost its fiction. Einhorn’s mandate will be “to build an impactful fiction program comprised of approximately 20 titles published each year,” according to Drake.

“I am confident that with her superlative energy, creativity, and drive, Amy will re-establish a vibrant fiction program at Crown, one that will serve as a cornerstone of our division’s long-term growth strategy,” Drake wrote.

Einhorn previously ran her own imprint at Penguin, Amy Einhorn Books, and also served as publisher of Flatiron Books, where her notable releases included Jeanine Cummins’ controversial “American Dirt,” a million-selling novel despite criticisms that it included Hispanic stereotypes and misrepresentations of Hispanic culture. Einhorn’s other projects have included Moriarty’s “Nine Perfect Strangers,” Laurie Frankel’s “This Is How It Always Was” and Yangsze Choo’s “The Night Tiger.”

Earlier this year, Crown Publishing Group became a separate division of Penguin Random House, part of a broader corporate reorganization.