Members’ Spotlight

THE BLACK ISSUE wins ‘Content Piece of the Year 2021’ PPA Award

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,…

BAE x The Bookseller: THE BLACK ISSUE

CALLOUT: Please send your 50-word pitch for a feature idea by 8 March. Full details below. The Black Agents and Editors’ Group (BAE), a community for current and aspiring agents and editors of African descent, are curating the first ever takeover issue of The Bookseller, the book industry’s dedicated weekly magazine, founded in 1858. The issue will be…

15 STEPS TO DOING BETTER

What does ‘doing the work’ really mean? (What does it mean on the days when you feel tired, worried or stressed?) We heard about the thoughts and the prayers; we saw the black squares, then heard the ensuing silence. As 2020 comes to a close it feels like day-to-day ally efforts towards equity are faltering.…

Marianne Tatepo – Founder of BAE, Publishing Director at Vintage

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 at…

Nicole Thomas – Editor at Greenfinch

I am Editor at Quercus’ imprint, Greenfinch, working across illustrated and narrative non-fiction in the areas of lifestyle, cookery, wellness, travel and nature. Prior to this, I was one of five trainees on Hachette’s year-long traineeship where I worked at Hodder’s lifestyle imprint, Yellow Kite, and Orion. Outside of my role, I am Outreach Liaison…

Lemara Lindsay-Prince – Senior Commissioning Editor at #MerkyBooks

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 and…

Davinia Andrew-Lynch – Literary Agent at Andlyn

Davinia Andrew-Lynch is a Literary Agent and the founder of boutique literary agency Andlyn. Initially specialising in children’s and YA Fiction the agency has now expanded to represent adult authors of commercial fiction and non-fiction. Previously, Davinia was an associate agent in a film/TV agency and a freelance children’s fiction editor. In 2015, and in…

Natalie Jerome – Literary Agent at Aevitas Creative Management

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. …

Ellah P. Wakatama OBE – Editor-at-Large at Canongate

Ellah P. Wakatama OBE is Editor-at-Large at Canongate and was the founding Publishing Director of The Indigo Press. She is also the Creative Manchester Senior Research Fellow at the School of New Writing, University of Manchester and serves as the Chair of the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. She was a judge for the…

Asmaa Isse – Assistant Editor at Penguin Random House Children’s

Asmaa works on brands like Tom Fletcher, Doctor Who, Roald Dahl and Jacqueline Wilson as well as developing Puffin’s non-fiction publishing. She began her career at Bonnier Books working across the adult and children’s fiction teams before moving on to the Penguin imprint Michael Joseph, where she worked with authors like Jojo Moyes and Stephen…

Cameron Myers – Commissioning Editor at Penguin General

I’m a commissioning editor at Penguin General, where I work on the Business list. Before joining PRH I was in the non-fiction team at Hodder & Stoughton where I started as an intern via Creative Access. While there I contributed to books including WTF? by Robert Peston, Step by Step by Simon Reeve and The Multi-Hyphen Method by Emma Gannon. My…

Emma Paterson – Literary Agent at Aitken Alexander

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.

Bibi Bakare-Yusuf – Publishing Director at Cassava Republic

Bibi is co-founder and publishing director of Cassava Republic Press.  She has worked as a research and gender consultant as well as in academia.  She sits on the editorial board of a number of influential journals. Bibi is also a Yale World Fellow, a Desmond Tutu Fellow and a Frankfurt Book Fair Fellow.  The Chair…

Nelle Andrew – Literary Agent at Rachel Mills Literary

I am a literary agent at RML having joined in 2020. Previously I was at PFD for 11 years. I was nominated for Agent of the Year in 2018 and was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. I represent both award winning authors and ST/NYT bestsellers across a wide range of fiction and non fiction…

Sharmaine Lovegrove – Publisher at Dialogue Books

I am the Publisher of Dialogue Books, an inclusive imprint at Little, Brown. I have been working with books, stories, rights and audiences for over two decades with a proven commitment to systemic change with deep and equal inclusion. 

Sareeta Domingo – Commissioning Editor at Harlequin/Mills & Boon

I started out in Sales & Marketing as a Stock Controller then Trade Manager, left to work as an Editor in children’s fiction at packager Hothouse Fiction for several years, freelanced as an Editor for a bit (and I’ve also been a Bookseller), until my current role as a Commissioning Editor at Harlequin Mills &…

Mireille Harper – Editorial Director at Bluebird and One Boat

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 on…

Marleigh Price – Editor at Trapeze

Marleigh Price is an editor at Trapeze, working across the fiction and non-fiction lists. Forthcoming publications include Being Lolita by Alisson Wood, White Tears Brown Scars by Ruby Hamad and Who’s Loving You by Sareeta Domingo. Marleigh is drawn to books with strong narrative voices and commissions across the spectrum of non-fiction, from memoir to…

Kwaku Osei-Afrifa – Commissioning Editor at Footnote Press

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 had…

Leodora Darlington – Commissioning Editor at Canelo

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, which…

Layla Mohamed – Assistant Editor at Cassava Republic

Layla Mohamed is an assistant editor at Cassava Republic Press. She studied Law at Oxford University, has been a panellist at Africa Writes and edited A Small Silence by Jumoke Verissimo, which was shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize 2020.

Serena Arthur – Editor at Trapeze

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 as…

Magdalene Abraha – Editorial Manager at Jacaranda Books

Magdalene is a writer and publisher. She was voted the Bookseller’s Rising Star list 2019. Magdalene was also awarded the LBF Trailblazer award 2020 for her contribution to publishing. Magdalene Abraha started her career in journalism and was one of the youngest columnists for the Independent newspaper before writing for multiple magazine and newspapers. Magdalene worked at…

Mina Asaam – Editorial Assistant at Simon and Schuster

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 the…

Gyamfia Osei – Agent at The Good Literary Agency

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.…

Sade Omeje – Editorial Assistant at 4th Estate and William Collins

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 consecutive…

Lizz Burrell – Editorial Assistant at HarperFiction

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 the…

Kemi Ogunsanwo – Literary Agent at The Good Literary Agency

Having acquired a BA in English Literature at UEA I began my publishing career with a number of internships at publishers including Bloomsbury, Simon & Schuster and Penguin Books while studying for an MA in Publishing at UCL. I then made the transition into Marketing & audience insight, gaining invaluable experience at organisations such as…

Kadija Sesay – Publications Manager at Inscribe

Kadija Sesay FRSA, Hon. FRSL,  established SAKS Media in the 90s to publish anthologies by Black British writers and SABLE LitMag. She is currently the Publications Manager for Inscribe, a Black British writer development programme for Peepal Tree Press for whom she has commissioned poetry and fiction anthologies with editors Nii Parkes, Jacob Ross and Kwame Dawes.…

Nazima Abdillahi – Fiction Editor at Hachette Children’s Group

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 of…

Andrea Henry – Editorial Director at Transworld

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 the…

Krystle Appiah – Editor at Macmillan Children’s Books

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 of…

Carla Hutchinson – Editor at Hot Key Books & Piccadilly Press

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 own…

Jasmine Richards – Editorial Director at Storymix

I’ve worked in children’s editorial for 15 years at Puffin, Working Partners and OUP. Last year I founded Storymix – which is a book incubator (also known as a packager). I work with up and coming writers or illustrators of colour. Together we create great book propositions that I edit and sell to publishers. Core…

Joelle Owusu – Commissioning Editor at Coronet

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, I…

Ruby Fatimilehin – Editorial Assistant at Hamish Hamilton, PRH

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 her…

Annie Gnoan – Editorial Assistant at Puffin, 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 to…

Feyi Oyesanya – Editorial Assistant at Headline

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 University…

India Chambers – Assistant Editor at Puffin, PRH

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 – Editorial Assistant at SAGE Publishing

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 Bad…

Mia Oakley – Editorial Assistant & PA at Ebury

Mia Oakley is an editorial assistant and PA at Ebury Partnerships (Penguin Random House UK), where she works with brands and authors to publish a wide range of illustrated and narrative non-fiction. She is also the Co-Chair of Colour[Full], PRH’s employee network for people of Colour. Before joining Ebury in December 2020, Mia worked as…

Aje Roberts – Assistant Editor at Quercus Books

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. During…

Ashley Thorpe – Development Editor at Sweet Cherry Publishing

I currently work as a Development Editor for the indie children’s publisher Sweet Cherry Publishing. My role includes hunting through submissions, generating new book ideas and helping our authors to develop their manuscripts – editing and checking content all the way through to publication. I have over a decade’s worth of publishing experience for academic…

K Bailey Obazee – Editorial Trainee at Ebury

K Bailey Obazee is Founder and Director of PRIM, a platform for storytelling which also produces OKHA, a monthly queer + Black book club. She is also a curator, consultant and researcher. K’s focus is storytelling, and in particular ensuring access to storytelling by people of Black ancestry is available and readily accessible. She has so…

Tallulah Lyons – Assistant Editor at #Merky Books

Tallulah Lyons is an Assistant Editor at #Merky Books, Penguin Random House UK, where she works across fiction and non-fiction with authors including Jade LB, Ramla Ali and Calum Jacobs. Before joining #Merky Books, Tallulah was an Editorial Assistant at the PRH Audio team, casting audiobooks such as Emma Dabiri’s Don’t Touch My Hair, Mrs…

Hannah Chukwu – Assistant Editor at Hamish Hamilton

Hannah Chukwu is an award-winning Assistant Editor at Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House UK, where she works on literary fiction and non-fiction, working with authors such as Bernardine Evaristo, Zadie Smith and Arundhati Roy. She is an editor for Five Dials magazine, and the series editor for Black Britain: Writing Back, and is looking to…

Calah Singleton – Editorial Assistant at Profile 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 wellbeing…

Donna Greaves – Agent’s Assistant at Jo Unwin Literary Agency

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 makes…

Loading…

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

%d bloggers like this: