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Senior vice-president at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt quits

Becky Saletan, senior vice-president and publisher of the U.S.-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has quit, effective Dec. 10. From The Canadian Press:

Saletan had served in the job since January 2008, when she was appointed to head the newly merged Harcourt and Houghton Mifflin divisions.

The company has been in the news for an alleged freeze on acquiring new books. Blumenfeld has offered conflicting statements, saying the publisher of authors such as Philip Roth and Günter Grass had “temporarily stopped acquiring manuscripts,” but later acknowledging the policy didn’t apply to education and children’s books and a mystery book imprint.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has reportedly been hit hard by the tight credit market and any halt on acquisitions is widely believed to be in anticipation of a possible sale.