You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Coates, Perkins and Schoepfer join Borough Press
HarperFiction imprint The Borough Press is welcoming three new members and looking forward to an “exceptional” year of publishing.
The new hires come following an expansion for the imprint. In late 2021, Borough began rolling out plans to up its overall title count and its percentage of authors from underrepresented backgrounds, while broadening its remit to include more narrative non-fiction, literary fiction and literary-commercial fiction.
This year alone, the team is launching debut fiction by Emilia Hart (Weyward) and Krystle Zara Appiah (Rootless), and the literary debut from Waterstones Book of the Year finalist Rebecca F Kuang (Yellowface). It will also publish narrative non-fiction from Blake Morrison (Two Sisters) and Joanna Cannon (Will You Read This, Please?).
Beth Coates joins the imprint as publishing consultant. Previously at Vintage, she led the paperbacks team to commercial and critical success, with a shortlisting for Imprint of the Year. Coates also worked on bestsellers, including Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life and Caroline Criado Perez’s Invisible Women.
Suzie Dooré becomes editor-at-large for a fixed period, focusing on publishing and editing her established list of authors, including Bridget Collins, Lionel Shriver, Tracy Chevalier and Emma Jane Unsworth.
Previously publishing director at the imprint, Dooré said: “For a fixed period, following a period of ill health, I will be focusing on the authors I am lucky enough to edit, but I look forward to picking up the reins again in the near future. As we approach our tenth year, I’m excited for us all to keep building The Borough Press and publishing a multitude of bestsellers and prize-winners.”
Amy Perkins joins the Borough team as commissioning editor. She previously spent seven years at Tinder Press, where she commissioned authors Sabrina Mahfouz, Francesca Reece, Nell Hudson and Michelle Hart. She oversaw the publication of Nathan Harris’ The Sweetness of Water, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, and had responsibility for Andrea Levy’s backlist programme. For the past nine months she has been covering Rhiannon Smith’s parental leave at Fleet. In her new role, Perkins will be actively acquiring both for fiction and narrative non-fiction.
Sophia Schoepfer joins as editor from the Estates team. Previously an editor at Little, Brown, Schoepfer worked across Virago and Fleet and with authors such as Hollie McNish, Colson Whitehead, Jane Harper, Caroline O’Donoghue and Alexander McCall Smith. As editor, she will be working across the Borough list, providing publishing support and looking after a collection of authors.
In addition to the new hires, Jabin Ali will continue to support the team as editorial assistant following her completion of the HarperCollins’ traineeship scheme, while deputy publishing director Ann Bissell is on parental leave, returning later this year.
Kimberley Young, executive publisher of HarperFiction, said: “The Borough Press really has had an extraordinary year of publishing and I’m thrilled to see the team expand as we continue to invest in the imprint for future growth. Pressing our authors’ books into as many hands as possible is our driving force, and of course having a passionate, engaged publishing team is so key to that. It’s fantastic to add some new eyes to our ambitious vision, especially as we will be celebrating 10 years of The Borough Press in 2024.”
