Orion unveils editorial team for new wellbeing imprint

Orion has revealed its newly-formed editorial team for wellbeing and lifestyle imprint Orion Spring and Orion Non-fiction.

Orion Spring, announced in April and run by non-fiction publisher Amanda Harris, aims to “inspire readers to live more confidently, happily and healthily”, and is due to launch with four titles in September: Davina McCall’s Lessons I’ve Learned; “beauty guru” Liz Earle’s Skin: Six Weeks to Beautiful, Radiant Skin at any Age; Lou Hamilton’s Brave New Girl; and “qualified breathing coach” Rebecca Dennis’ introduction to deep breathing, And Breathe.

Olivia Morris has been hired to join Orion as commissioning editor for Orion Spring and Orion Non-fiction from Pan Macmillan, where she was an editor for the Bluebird imprint. Morris will join Orion next week on 15th August, where she will commission across the imprints. She began her publishing career at a Diane Banks Associates Literary and Talent Agency before becoming an editorial assistant at Simon & Schuster. She moved to Pan Macmillan in January 2015 to join the newly-formed lifestyle imprint Bluebird and was described as "an integral part" of the two-person editorial team behind the list’s successful launch. Morris worked with authors across the Bluebird list, including Joe Wicks. 

Emily Barrett, editor for Orion Spring and Orion Non-fiction, recently joined the company from HarperCollins where she was assistant editor at Harper non-fiction working across a range of illustrated books including entertainment, lifestyle and cookery. Projects she worked on while at HarperCollins included One Direction’s bestselling autobiography Who We Are and Holly Willoughby’s Truly Happy Baby, as well as the upcoming tie-in book to ITV’s new period drama, Victoria.

Sarah Bauer is moving over from her role as desk editor at Orion Fiction to desk editor for Orion Spring and Orion Non-fiction and will report to Morris. Orion praised Bauer for her ability to manage a heavy work load and new systems well. She will provide Morris with editorial support once her commissioning is underway.

Meanwhile, Lucy Haenlein has been promoted to assistant editor for Orion Spring and Orion Non Fiction.