Bourton made publishing director for fiction at Viking 

Harriet Bourton has been promoted with immediate effect to publishing director for fiction at Viking, overseeing fiction publishing across the commercial and literary lists.

She takes over from Mary Mount who left the publisher to join Picador last year. 

Bourton joined Penguin General in August 2021 from Orion, taking up the role of publisher permanently in February 2022. Since then, she has led the imprint’s commercial fiction strategy, resulting, according to the publisher, in a 7% net sales growth year on year. She published Richard Osman’s The Bullet That Missed.

Bourton acquired a number of debuts as lead titles for 2023 and 2024, including a world rights pre-empt for The Best Way to Bury Your Husband by Alexia Casale. US rights were sold to Pamela Dorman Books.

Bourton’s appointment brings together Viking’s commercial and literary fiction lists. Editorial director Isabel Wall will now report to Bourton, developing the strategy for the literary list and publishing a range of writers such as Caleb Azumah Nelson, Jonathan Coe, Hisham Matar, Anna Funder, Elizabeth Strout and Elif Shafak, as well as new talents Alice Winn and Khashayar J Khabushani.

Wall, who is assisted by Karishma Jobanputra, will continue to acquire literary fiction and select literary non-fiction for Viking. Her most recent acquisition is The Safekeep by debut novelist Yael van der Wouden, bought in a “fiercely contested” nine-way auction. 

Viking said it would begin recruitment for an acquiring editor to report to Wall in the coming weeks. Bourton expanded the commercial team last autumn when Rosa Schierenberg arrived to broaden Viking’s commercial fiction offering and Vikki Moynes was promoted to commissioning editor, assisted by Lydia Fried.

Bourton said: “I’ve admired Viking ever since I began in publishing: it’s a vibrant, varied and inclusive list that unites exceptional writers with consistently impressive commercial and critical success. Our ambition is to bring brilliant storytelling to the widest possible audience with creative tenacity and strategic rigour.”

Preena Gadher, m.d. of Penguin General, said: “The Viking fiction list is home to some of the finest writers in the world. Our vision is to nurture our authors with exceptional editorial rigour coupled with commercial success through the relentless pursuit of reaching broader audiences. That requires a highly strategic, creative, forward-looking and curious publishing team, and Harriet possess all those skills and more. I’m delighted to appoint her to head up Viking fiction and am excited for the future of the list.”

Bourton was previously the publisher of Orion Fiction and worked with authors including Michael Connelly, Joanne Harris, Cathy Bramley and Libby Page. She worked at Headline, Hodder and Transworld earlier in her career.