Smith becomes HC deputy publishing director of estates

HarperFiction has promoted Chris Smith to deputy publishing director of estates.

Smith joined HarperCollins in 1999 working on the publisher's fantasy and science fiction imprint, Voyager, and Tolkien, having previously been a freelance reader while working as a bookseller at Hatchards in London’s Piccadilly.

After swapping science fiction for non-fiction, he commissioned a number of high-profile projects, as well as working on Tolkien through all six Warner Bros film adaptations and a number of other Tolkien titles including The Children of Húrin, Beowulf and Beren and Lúthien, all of which were edited by the author’s son Christopher.

Smith continues to commission and edit new books by other estates' authors including Patrick O'Brian, as well as thriller writers such as Len Deighton (leading to the BBC adaptation of the same name, "SS-GB", broadcast in February) and Jack Higgins. He has just published Mike Ripley's overview of the thriller genre, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, released in May.

A HarperCollins spokesperson said: “Most recently, Chris masterminded the tie-ins for J K Rowling's Fantastic Beasts, a programme of books that resulted in a Sunday Times Number One for Inside the Magic: The Making of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Ian Nathan, and 92 separate editions across every one of HarperCollins GPP territories –a complex, ambitious and hugely successful project.”