Canongate's Knowles moves to Faber to cover for von Hirschberg

Faber has appointed Canongate’s Hannah Knowles as editorial director to cover Alexa von Hirschberg’s maternity leave. 

Knowles will join Faber in February and will be responsible for editing and publishing a full schedule of titles, as well as overseeing and managing the music and pop culture list. She will report to Alex Bowler.

She joins the company with 17 years of publishing experience, holding editorial positions at Hodder, Ebury and Octopus, before moving to Canongate in 2016 and becoming editorial director in 2020. She has published authors including Ali Wong, Courttia Newland, Gina Miller, Mark Radcliffe, Michael Spicer, Nels Abbey and Salena Godden. Dan Papps, deputy director of music at Faber, will be acquiring for the list while von Hirschberg is on leave, reporting to Knowles.

"I am thrilled that Hannah Knowles is coming to Faber," von Hirschberg said. "Her wealth of experience, editorial acumen, brilliant relationships with authors and agents, and astute knowledge of non-fiction as well as pop culture publishing, make her the perfect fit. I know our authors will be guided expertly and that Faber will be all the richer for her presence."

Knowles added: "It’s a real honour to be joining the brilliant Faber team, and to be working on such an exciting, classy list. I promise not to set fire to things in Alexa’s absence. The last five years have flown by and I’m endlessly grateful to the incredible authors and colleagues I’ve got to work with at Canongate."