Barrett steps up to Sphere non-fiction publisher as Wallace joins team

Sphere non-fiction has made a raft of hires and promotions, with Emily Barrett, previously publishing director, stepping up to the role of publisher with immediate effect. 

Meanwhile, Tig Wallace, previously at Hachette Children’s Group, has been hired as senior commissioning editor. Sarah Kennedy, previously junior editor at Octopus, has been hired in the newly created role of editor to offer support on Barrett’s books and assist on the publishing of the Asterix series and Ruth Jones, previously editorial assistant, has been promoted to assistant editor across fiction and non-fiction.

Wallace and Kennedy will both report to Barrett. Jones will now report to Wallace and Darcy Nicholson, editorial director for Sphere Fiction.

Barrett joined Little, Brown in 2019 as senior commissioning editor. In the three years since she has published bestsellers including Ant and Dec’s Once Upon a Tyne and Tez Ilyas’ The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13¾. 

Her curated list of memoirs includes The Louder I Will Sing by Lee Lawrence, which won the Costa Biography Award in 2021, and Rebecca Humphries’ Why Did You Stay?, published this summer.

She has also increased and championed the gift and humour side of the list, with titles including 52 Times Britain Was a Bellend by James Felton, and two she penned herself. This autumn she is publishing the first quiz book in a new annual series from “Have I Got News for You”, as well as “Countryfile” presenter Adam Henson’s first book about the countryside, Two for Joy, among others. She was named a Bookseller Rising Star in 2020.

Wallace started his publishing career at PRH where he managed the Diary of a Wimpy Kid brand before joining the team at Hachette Children’s Group as senior commissioning editor. He has published non-fiction and fiction for a wide range of age groups, including middle-grade authors like Ben Brooks and Branford Boase Award-winner Mitch Johnson.

He published Leigh Bardugo, Sophie Gonzales, who was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Only Mostly Devastated, and Erik J Brown. Working across the Wren & Rook imprint, he has also published commercial non-fiction authors including Dr Ranj.

Barrett said: “Tig hugely impressed me with his drive and thoughtfulness at interview and I’m sure that his background working in children’s books will bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to our publishing, alongside an understanding of the younger part of the adult market who are graduating from YA. I have ambitious plans for Sphere non-fiction and wanted a talented, creative and business-minded editor to assist with this; I feel certain I’ve found this in Tig.

“Sarah joined us earlier in the year and has proved an invaluable source of calm support since then, and Darcy and I are thrilled to announce the promotion of Ruth Jones. Ruth is a natural editor with imaginative ideas, and we are very excited to be able to support her in the next step of her career.

“I’m delighted to be taking on the publisher mantle at Sphere non-fiction and I’m looking forward to putting in place a new strategy to step our ambitions up to new heights, to focus our efforts on providing for all mass-market non-fiction readers, and to ensure we’re the number one strategic, creative and supportive destination for authors.”

Cath Burke, executive publisher of Sphere and deputy m.d. of Little, Brown, said: “It has been such an exciting time at Sphere Non-Fiction and Emily’s vision and passion for our publishing makes her the perfect person to lead the team and take it to even greater success. Our commercial non-fiction publishing is an area we’re committed to growing at Little, Brown and I know Emily, Tig and the team will be focused on delivering absolutely sensational books for readers everywhere.”