Andornino moves from W&N to Sceptre as executive publisher

Sceptre has appointed Federico Andornino as executive publisher of Sceptre, following the departure of Carole Welch. 

Andornino will take up his new role in January 2023, reporting to c.e.o. Katie Espiner, and will join the Hodder board.

Publishing director Welch announced she was stepping down earlier this month after 35 years “to pass on the baton”, saying she was looking forward to “new adventures in the publishing world”. 

Andornino is currently publishing director at Weidenfeld & Nicolson where his list includes multiple bestselling and prize-listed authors. He acquired and published the word-of-mouth bestseller Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, which won Pageturner of the Year at the British Book Awards and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction; the Sunday Times bestseller Sorrow & Bliss by Meg Mason, which was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and won Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards; and Murder Before Evensong, the début novel by Reverend Richard Coles, which went straight to number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list. 

Prior to joining W&N, Andornino worked at Two Roads at John Murray Press, having started his publishing career at Rizzoli in Italy. 

He said: “The five years I have spent at W&N have been some of the most fulfilling (and fun) of my career and I want to thank everyone at Orion for helping me publish extraordinary books by extraordinary authors. I want to give a special thank you to our executive publisher, Jenny Lord, for being the best champion – and the best boss – an editor could ask for. While I am sad to leave W&N behind, I am very excited to continue my career at Hachette with Hodder and to have the opportunity to shape the future of Sceptre, the home of brilliant storytelling (including one of my all-time favourite authors, David Mitchell). I can’t wait to get started.” 

Lord added: “Fede’s acquiring talent, impeccable taste and passionate publishing have played a significant part in driving the incredible growth we have enjoyed at W&N over the past four years. Working closely with him has been such a pleasure and while we are of course sad to see him move on from the team – where he is, frankly, adored – I couldn’t be more pleased that his considerable gifts have been recognised and I can’t wait to see what he achieves at Sceptre. We’ll be looking to hire a senior publisher at W&N in due course, and Fede leaves us at a time when the imprint is thriving and we’re excited about our next steps.” 

Espiner commented: “Fede is one of the most gifted publishers working in the industry today. He, with Jenny Lord, Lettice Franklin and the rest of the incredible team, has breathed essential new life into W&N, taking it back to being the destination literary imprint of its founding. I am so excited to see how he will bring his signature publishing flair to Sceptre.”