Publishing Career
I have enjoyed almost thirty years in the publishing industry, working across both children’s and adult imprints, publishing fiction, illustrated and narrative non-fiction, picture books and novelty books. I have directed publishing strategy at senior-management level and managed book brands and their licensing into other products such as TV, movies, toys, clothing and exhibitions.
I spent twelve years at Scholastic UK, latterly as Publishing Director, where my team published bestsellers such as The Hunger Games, His Dark Materials, Captain Underpants, Horrible Histories and Stick Man.
Me dressed as a Horrible Histories Roman
(image credit: Rory Lindsay Photography)
At the Hunger Games premiere
Watch me in a Horrible Histories song here:
After a two-year foray into adult publishing, I became Publisher of Templar Books during its 40th anniversary, which celebrated the groundbreaking Ology novelty series, Gigantosaurus by Jonny Duddle (now an animated series on Disney+) and Levi Pinfold’s Black Dog.
Across my career, the books my teams have published have won over twenty-five prestigious awards including: the British Book Award for Publisher of the Year, the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals, the Waterstones Prize, the Costa Book Award, the Blue Peter Book Awards, the Stanford Travel Writing Awards, the Klaus Flugge Prize, the Royal Society Science Prize and the Roald Dahl Funny/Lollies Prize.
I have spent the last six years as a freelance writer, editor, agent and publisher, offering consultancy, agency and editorial services to publishers, brands and authors, including Beano and the Little People, BIG DREAMS™ series, and Three Dads Walking.