Curr departs S&S US with immediate effect

Judith Curr, president and publisher at Atria Publishing Group, is leaving after 19 years with Simon & Schuster US.

Curr’s last day at Atria, a general interest publishing division of S&S US, based in New York, is Tuesday (30th January). A search for her replacement has begun with Atria’s v.p. and editor-in-chief, Peter Borland, and v.p. and associate publisher Suzanne Donahue overseeing the division's editorial and publishing activities alongside S&S US c.e.o. Carolyn Reidy. 

Curr has worked with authors such as Isabel Allende, Shirley MacLaine and Michael Mosley after first joining S&S US as president and publisher of Pocket Books in 1999.

In 2002, she became the founding publisher of Atria, and in 2012 was named president and publisher of Atria. Under her leadership, the Atria Group has grown to encompass various publishing imprints such as 37 Ink, Emily Bestler Books, Howard Books, Marble Arch Press, Enliven, Atria Books Español and Strebor Books, delivering popular titles for a multi-faceted readership across an impressive range of publishing categories.

In her message announcing Curr’s departure, Reidy said the publisher was “particularly adept at identifying trends and cultural phenomena and then publishing to satisfy a readership that did not exist previously”.

“Perhaps the most impressive example of her publisher’s intuition' was Rhonda Byrne’s [self-help manual] The Secret, of which there are now more than 35 million copies in print in 53 languages," Reidy said. "More recently Atria has had success with previously self-published “indie” authors, and with Keywords Press, dedicated to publishing the stars of new media.”

Curr was described as “smart, creative and personable” by Reidy. The S&S c.e.o. said Curr was “always keen to try out new ideas and methods of publishing” and that she was “deeply committed to bringing new and underserved voices to readers” promoting diversity across Atria’s lists.

Originally from Australia, Curr has been an executive in American publishing since 1996. She also teaches a course on publishing at New York University.

In December 2015, Curr spoke at The Bookseller's Futurebook conference on a panel titled, ‘Writing the future: author-centric publishing’. She discussed how the "publisher’s role is to establish environments for authors to be creative, to encourage experimentation and to understand the shifting needs and nature of the readers". 

No reason was given for Curr’s departure and her next position is not known.