Children’s book author and editor Christian Trimmer will head the relaunch of MTV Books in partnership with Simon & Schuster, ViacomCBS’ MTV Entertainment Group announced today. Trimmer’s appointment will accelerate the MTVE book-to-TV/film pipeline as the YA industry veteran will help discover new voices that reflect the breadth of its audiences. Some critically acclaimed MTV Books titles that have already been turned into feature films include Stephen Chbosky’s Perks of Being a Wallflower and Bethany Hamilton’s Soul Surfer.
“With the relaunch of MTV Books, we have the opportunity to uncover new, cutting-edge voices and fast track their stories into series and TV movies,” said Nina L. Diaz, President of Content and Chief Creative Officer at MTV Entertainment, in a statement. “Christian has a keen eye for identifying some of the most pioneering authors of this generation and we’re thrilled to welcome him to the team.”
Courtesy of Viacom
For the past four years, Trimmer has served as editorial director at Macmillan, where he oversaw titles like international bestseller “Children of Blood and Bone” by Tomi Adeyemi (which is being adapted for the big screen by director Rick Famuyiwa at Fox 2000), and the New York Times-bestselling magical realism novel “The Shape of Water,” the Guillermo del Toro-directed film version of which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2018. Prior to Macmillan, Trimmer served as a senior editor at Disney Publishing Worldwide for nearly eight years, as editorial director at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, and as an executive editor at Simon & Schuster.
As head of MTV Books, Trimmer will work closely with MTVE’s Meghan Hooper, exec VP, head of Original Movies and Limited Series, to identify titles and evaluate existing IP for development into films and mini-series. Trimmer will directly report to Diaz and will be based in New York.
The MTV Books imprint relaunch will be housed under the Branded Publishing Group of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, overseen by Vice President, Publisher Valerie Garfield, with Kara Sargent, Director of Branded Publishing, as the lead editor on the Simon & Schuster side.