Anna Argenio moves to Orion to lead new smart thinking list 

Anna Argenio is moving to the Orion Publishing Group in the newly created role of publishing director after eight years at Cornerstone. 

Reporting to executive publisher Vicky Eribo, Argenio will join Orion in May 2024 to head up a new non-fiction imprint focused on publishing “the very best smart thinking, personal development, soft business and life optimisation titles”, Orion said. She will also be acquiring some health and wellbeing books for the Orion Spring list. The new imprint has yet to be announced.

Argenio joined William Heinemann, part of Cornerstone, in 2016 after a maternity cover at Vintage. She was promoted to editor at Hutchinson in 2019 and editorial director in 2021, helping to launch the newly rebranded Cornerstone Press imprint in 2022. Over the course of her career, she has published Grace Beverley, Philippa Perry, Francesc Miralles and Héctor García, Marc Morris, Vishen Lakhiani and Adrienne Herbert, acquiring This Is Why You Dream by Rahul Jandial and recently books by Daisy Fancourt, Helen Ball, and many more. 

Eribo said: “We are excited to be expanding our non-fiction offering at Orion and delighted that we have persuaded Anna to join the team to shape and drive our new smart thinking list. From the moment I met Anna, I was blown away by her energy and vision for growth. She brings commercial nous, a fantastic eye, superb market knowledge and an unrivalled passion for all the areas where we are looking to expand. I know our launch plans will be in excellent hands with Anna at the helm, and I cannot wait for her start so we can share more details.” 

Argenio added: “I’ve loved my eight years at Cornerstone, learning from such a talented and energetic group of people and seeing Cornerstone Press and Hutchinson Heinemann go from strength to strength. I will miss my authors, team and friends deeply. But joining Vicky, Anna and the entrepreneurial team at Orion to launch this new imprint is a huge honour and a rare opportunity – one that is full of vision, ambition and drive – and I knew immediately that I had to be a part of it. Readers are hungry for books that help them to understand the world we live in and live their life to its fullest potential. I cannot wait to discover the very best voices in this space and create a dedicated home for them at Orion.”