Bloomsbury appoints Alexis Kirschbaum as publishing director

Bloomsbury has appointed Alexis Kirschbaum, currently editorial director at Penguin Press, as publishing director for fiction and non-fiction. 

Kirschbaum joined Penguin in 2008 as an editor for classics and modern classics. She became editorial director in 2011, and has published several prize-winning and bestselling non-fiction authors, including most recently Carlo Rovelli’s Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Paul Dolan’s Happiness by Design, Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow, Nassim Taleb’s Antifragile, and Roberto Saviano’s Zero Zero Zero.

She said: "I feel fortunate to have worked at Penguin Press for the past eight years, where I published some of the world’s most talented writers and worked with wonderful colleagues. Bloomsbury is an independent publisher I have long admired for its taste, individuality, authority and boldness. They get behind books with belief and ambition to create bestsellers and major prize-winners. Bloomsbury loves books and understands what this industry is about, and I look forward to a future discovering new talent, unforgettable writers and books that change how readers see the world.”

Kirschbaum will start at Bloomsbury on 13th September, reporting to Alexandra Pringle, group editor-in-chief of Bloomsbury.

Pringle said: "I am thrilled that Alexis is to join our editorial team – she is a publisher to her fingertips:  clever, imaginative, original and energetic.  She will bring so much to Bloomsbury, not least her experience in publishing non-fiction bestsellers and her very fine taste which will be evident as she spreads her wings and builds a fiction list here.  This is an exciting moment for Bloomsbury.”

Emma Hopkin, m.d. of Bloomsbury Children's and Educational publishing, added: "This is the perfect time for Alexis to come to Bloomsbury – just as the newly created trade consumer publishing division establishes itself. Her appointment brings great opportunities to the list and we are delighted to welcome Alexis to the team."

Kirschbaum joins publishing director Michael Fishwick, senior fiction editor Alexa von Hirschberg and the recently arrived editorial director for crime, Alison Hennessey, who was hired in April.