Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Black Issue – the first ever guest-edited issue of The Bookseller magazine since its inception in 1858 – has won a PPA Award! The issue was published in April 2021 as a collaboration between The Bookseller and publishing community and mentoring network Black Agents & Editors’ Group (BAE) was edited by Marianne Tatepo. Out of the four issues nominated,Continue reading “THE BLACK ISSUE wins ‘Content Piece of the Year 2021’ PPA Award”

Hi, I’m Marianne, the founder of the Black Agents & Editors’ Group (BAE). I’m Publishing Director for Square Peg, Vintage (Penguin Random House UK). Previously, I was Commissioning Editor for Ebury Press & Pop Press (Penguin Random House UK), publishing nonfiction books, with a focus on lifestyle and illustrated. Prior to Ebury, I was atContinue reading “Marianne Tatepo – Founder of BAE, Publishing Director at Vintage”

Lemara Lindsay-Prince is Senior Commissioning Editor at award-winning imprint #Merky Books who published the ‘How To’ series, and Not Without A Fight by Ramla Ali. She is also co-fryer, and joint Editor in Chief of independent literary journal Plantain Papers, and a published writer whose words can be found in Well Read Black Girl anthology andContinue reading “Lemara Lindsay-Prince – Senior Commissioning Editor at #MerkyBooks”

Natalie Jerome has worked as a Publisher and Acquiring Editor for some of the UK’s most prominent publishing houses including Penguin Random House, Pan Macmillan, Bonnier Books and HarperCollins where she was a commissioner for ten years before making the move across to literary agenting for Aevitas Creative Management, a leading transatlantic independent literary agency. Continue reading “Natalie Jerome – Literary Agent at Aevitas Creative Management”

Emma Paterson joined Aitken Alexander Associates in 2018 after five years at Rogers, Coleridge and White. Before that, she worked at The Wylie Agency. In 2018, she was selected as a Bookseller Rising Star. She became a member of the Booker Prize Foundation Advisory Committee and was made a Director of the agency in 2020.

I’m a fiction and non-fiction commissioning editor at The Borough Press, building a list that reflects the world we live in, and publishes writers whose books start interesting and important conversations.

Over the past five years, I’ve worked in non-fiction editorial across Trapeze, Octopus Books, Square Peg and Bluebird & One Boat, where I’m currently Editorial Director. I commission and edit books, as well as supporting and working closely with the team in the development and expansion of the list. I am keen to work onContinue reading “Mireille Harper – Editorial Director at Bluebird and One Boat”

Kwaku is a commissioning editor at Footnote Press looking to acquire fiction and non-fiction. They started their career as a PA first to Jamie Byng at Canongate, then Nick Landau and Vivian Cheung at Titan, after working as a Waterstones bookseller. Joining the editorial commissioning team at Unbound, they built a fiction list that hadContinue reading “Kwaku Osei-Afrifa – Commissioning Editor at Footnote Press”

Leodora Darlington is a commissioning editor at Canelo with a history of working on bestselling commercial fiction. In the past, she has worked with number-one-bestselling authors such as Angela Marsons and has worked on chart-topping books such as Samantha Hayes’ Date Night and Shalini Boland’s The Wife. One of her first commissions was The Dancing Girls by M.M. Chouinard, whichContinue reading “Leodora Darlington – Commissioning Editor at Canelo”

Serena Arthur is fiction editor at Trapeze Books, Orion (a division of Hachette UK), where she is editing and publishing across the list and seeking bold, memorable and zeitgeisty new books. She joined Orion in June 2022 after just under three years at another Hachette division – Headline – where she spent ten months asContinue reading “Serena Arthur – Editor at Trapeze”

Before my current role, I spent quite a few years living in different countries (South Korea, Spain) teaching English as a foreign language. Then, I transitioned into scientific publishing, making use of my degree and research experience in Biological Sciences/Genetics. I finally made the move into my current role where I work to support theContinue reading “Mina Asaam – Editorial Assistant at Simon and Schuster”

Gyamfia began her career in publishing working as a Bookseller at Waterstones, before joining Caskie Mushens as Literary Assistant to Juliet Mushens and Robert Caskie. She returned to the U.K. after living in Amsterdam for two years, where she managed international sales for The Pepin Press and held the role of Editor for Plural Magazine.Continue reading “Gyamfia Osei – Agent at The Good Literary Agency”

I am a Literary Agent with the Authors Care Agency Ltd. I have a degree in journalism, and I am a columnist for multi award-winning Keep The Faith Magazine, where I write about the publishing industry.

I am currently the editorial assistant at 4th Estate and William Collins, as well as the PA to the executive publisher David Roth-Ey at Harper Collins. I graduated with a degree in English Literature and American Studies from the University of Manchester, my favourite city, where I volunteered for Manchester Literature Festival for two consecutiveContinue reading “Sade Omeje – Editorial Assistant at 4th Estate and William Collins”

Lizz Burrell is an Editorial Assistant at HarperFiction, working in their Crime and Thriller team. She has an MA in Publishing from UCL and loves reading genre fiction, in particular crime, romance and fantasy. She’s excited to be starting her career in editorial and is passionate about championing the work of underrepresented authors in theContinue reading “Lizz Burrell – Editorial Assistant at HarperFiction”

Nazima is currently part of the wonderful editorial team at Hachette Children’s and works on fiction – from adventurous middle-grade to breathtaking YA. She previously worked on children’s non-fiction and licensing at Scholastic, where she began her publishing career.  She is eager to amplify underrepresented voices and build a list that is an honest reflection ofContinue reading “Nazima Abdillahi – Fiction Editor at Hachette Children’s Group”

Andrea Henry is an editorial director at Transworld, Penguin Random House, working with authors including Jenni Murray and Viv Groskop. She has been an acquiring editor at Headline, has held editorial positions at HarperCollins and Orion, and started as an editorial assistant at Random House. For five years she was the books editor at theContinue reading “Andrea Henry – Editorial Director at Transworld”

Krystle Appiah is a children’s books editor, working on fiction, non-fiction and poetry for readers aged 6+. She began her career at Walker Books, first as an intern and later as a permanent member of the team. She now works at MCB, Pan Macmillan. Outside of her role, Krystle is a writer and part ofContinue reading “Krystle Appiah – Editor at Macmillan Children’s Books”

Carla is an assistant editor at Hot Key Books and Piccadilly Press, the children’s fiction imprints at Bonnier Books, and works with authors including Elizabeth Acevedo, Patrice Caldwell and Jordan Ifueko. She began her career at Hachette Children’s Group, via Creative Access, working as an editorial assistant intern. She has started to acquire her ownContinue reading “Carla Hutchinson – Editor at Hot Key Books & Piccadilly Press”

I’m Joelle, a Commissioning Editor for Coronet (Hodder & Stoughton), mainly publishing nonfiction, with a focus on popular science, memoir, lifestyle and pop culture.After completing a BSc in Petroleum Geology, I left to pursue my dream career in Publishing. My career started as an Editorial/Publicity Intern and then a Commissioning Editor at Unbound. There, IContinue reading “Joelle Owusu – Commissioning Editor at Coronet”

Ruby Fatimilehin is the Editorial Assistant at Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House UK. In 2021, Ruby completed the Penguin Random House UK Summer Internship in the Puffin Picture Books Editorial team. She then worked as a temporary Editorial Assistant at Vintage Classics and Catalogue and then as General Editorial Assistant at Vintage before securing herContinue reading “Ruby Fatimilehin – Editorial Assistant at Hamish Hamilton, PRH”

Annie joined Puffin Picture Books at Penguin Random House as an editorial assistant in 2020. As the main point of contact for the wider editorial team, she is extremely fortunate to assist and engage with the entire breadth of the list. From helping out on the immersive world of Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit toContinue reading “Annie Gnoan – Editorial Assistant at Puffin, PRH”

I have been an editorial assistant at Headline Non-fiction, since February 2021. I support the Publishing Director and two commissioning editors on a range of editorial tasks. I would like to commission celebrity memoirs, books within the pop culture space and joyful stories from under-represented voices. I have a BA in Architecture, at the UniversityContinue reading “Feyi Oyesanya – Editorial Assistant at Headline”

After receiving an MA in Black British Writing and working as a bookseller at Round Table Books, India Chambers began her publishing career as an Assistant Editor at Penguin Random House, Puffin. India is particularly interested in harnessing and amplifying voices that have historically been excluded.

Rhoda Ola-Said is an editorial assistant at academic publishing house, SAGE Publishing. She has worked there for three years, starting off in Marketing and moving swiftly into the world of editing Social Science textbooks. She is also an avid book reviewer on Instagram with the handle @booksinote and guest writes book reviews for the BadContinue reading “Rhoda Ola-Said – Editorial Assistant at SAGE Publishing”

Ajebowale Roberts is an assistant editor at Quercus Books, a publishing division of Hachette UK. Aje is part of the Quercus Fiction team and works on both commercial fiction and SFF at Jo Fletcher Books. She joined Quercus in January 2021. Aje was part of the Onyx Magazine Team ’20-’21 as Deputy Editor of Editorial. DuringContinue reading “Aje Roberts – Assistant Editor at Quercus Books”

Calah Singleton is an Editorial Assistant at Profile Books, working in nonfiction across Profile and Souvenir Press, and fiction with Serpent’s Tail. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, she graduated from Yale University in 2012 and came to London for her MSc at the LSE. She is the co-founder of Mendü, a startup focused on mental wellbeingContinue reading “Calah Singleton – Editorial Assistant at Profile Books”

Donna Greaves has been an agency assistant at Jo Unwin Literary Agency since 2017. She trained and worked as a speech and language therapist for six years, before changing careers aged thirty. She is working towards acquiring her own list of clients across fiction and non-fiction and is interested in the stories of what makesContinue reading “Donna Greaves – Agent’s Assistant at Jo Unwin Literary Agency”

Melissa Gitari started her publishing career at Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, where she worked across their growing picture books and children’s fiction lists. She is now an editor at Stripes Publishing, and is looking to acquire warm, funny middle grade, novels in verse and lighthearted YA romance, all from underrepresented authors.