Penguin Random House Canada is building an in-house rights operation with Adrienne Tang at the helm in the newly created position of vice-president, subsidiary rights.

Tang, who will report directly to PRHC CEO Kristin Cochrane, comes from Kids Can Press, where she spent 14 years in international rights and business development and was involved in more than 2,500 subsidiary rights sales in 43 languages. She was responsible for the launch of Kids Can’s McDonald’s Canada Happy Meal book program and created a custom book project for General Mills’ Honey Nut Cheerios brand with Franklin the Turtle creator Paulette Bourgeois (PRHC will begin publishing Bourgeois’s new series in summer 2022). Tang also oversaw the international rights launch of KCP’s young-adult imprint.

In addition to PRHC’s young reader division, Tang will also oversee international rights for all adult publishing imprints. Tang says in a statement: “I’m excited to work with such a dedicated team who clearly love what they do and do it well.

“It’s a rare opportunity to be offered a new role at such a renowned and established publisher, and I’m thrilled to have the chance to build a new international rights business and team at Penguin Random House Canada. I look forward to getting to know the publishing lists and finding international homes and audiences for these incredible books and authors, alongside new colleagues who are the best in the business.”

For more than a decade, PRHC rights sales were handled by The Cooke Agency International. According to a press release, Cochrane had spoken to the Toronto agency in January 2020, but plans for the in-house transition were put on hold because of COVID-19. Tang joins the team on Nov. 16, working closely with The Cooke Agency International for the handover, effective Dec. 31.