A leading progressive media company, founded by three former members of the Obama administration, has formed a book imprint with the independent publisher Zando.

On Tuesday, Zando announced that it would partner with Crooked Media, founded in 2017 by Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, for an imprint called Crooked Media Reads. Crooked Media is known for such podcasts as “Pod Save America” and “Lovett or Leave It.”

The first release from the new imprint, Lydia Kiseling’s novel “Mobility,” is scheduled for August 2023.

Ahead of this month’s Annecy Film Festival, Netflix has unveiled a slate of new animated films and series from creatives across Europe.

The eight-strong list includes Ember, Sergio Pablos’ follow-up to his BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated Klaus, Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, featuring songs by Oscar winner Leslie Bricusse, That Christmas, based on the children’s books by Richard Curtis and from Ron’s Gone Wrong studio Locksmith Animation, and an untitled animated feature by Oscar winner Steve Box, who was a key animator on Chicken Run and co-wrote and co-directed Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

The London-based CG animation studio Locksmith Animation has appointed Mary Coleman as Chief Creative Officer. Coleman joins Locksmith from Pixar Animation Studios, where she served as Head of Creative Development. She will begin her work at LSA in July.

Late last month, the iconic 122-year-old London music venue Koko re-opened following a three-year closure and a seven-year period of meticulous strategic gestation to birth an ambitious (£70m/$88m) transmedia reimagining. It’s a project that’s likely to set a new benchmark in showcasing live music and music culture, as well as redefining the rules of engagement between artists and their fans.

The Atlantic, a literary destination since its founding 165 years ago as a magazine of “Literature, Art, and Politics,” is today unveiling a dramatically expanded Books section devoted to essays, criticism, reporting, original fiction, poetry, and book recommendations, and announcing a first-of-its-kind book imprint called Atlantic Editions in partnership with the independent publisher Zando. Atlantic Editions will publish a series of books by Atlantic writers, each on a single and timely topic.