Dryden to lead Headline Review's commercial fiction team

Eleanor Dryden, currently publishing director at Bonnier Zaffre, is joining Headline Review in April to head up its commercial fiction team.

Reporting to fiction publishing director Jennifer Doyle, Dryden will be leading the Headline Review imprint, home to authors such as Victoria Hislop, Jill Mansell, Sheila O’Flanagan, Alison Weir and the late Penny Vincenzi, as well as building her own list of authors.

Dryden spearheaded the commercial women’s fiction and reading group list at Zaffre and during her time there she has published bestselling authors including Louise Pentland, Lydia Syson, Patricia Wilson and saga brand Rosie Goodwin. She also published the debut of Strictly's Anton du Beke. Before joining Bonnier Zaffre at the end of 2015, she was publishing director at HarperCollins imprint Avon, before which she had also worked at Pan Macmillan, Orion, Constable and Robinson, and Waterstones.

Commenting on her new role, Dryden said she was sad to be leaving Bonnier Zaffre but the opportunity with Headline was too exciting to pass up.

"It’s so rare that an opportunity as exciting as this comes along and I knew I had to snap it up," she said. "I’ve always hugely admired Headline as the home of stellar authors adored by readers, plus as a destination for the best new talent, and I was so inspired by the team’s vision for the future. I simply can’t wait to be a part of delivering that. It is of course difficult to move on from authors and a team I care deeply for and am so proud of, but I know their future is bright. I am absolutely thrilled to be working with Jen and the entire Headline team and building a list alongside such dynamic and talented people."

Doyle, fiction publishing director at Headline Publishing Group, said: "I’m delighted to welcome Eli to the Headline commercial fiction team. Eli is such a well-respected editor and publisher and her CV speaks for itself. I thought her experience in developing list strategy, her passion for commercial fiction and her digital publishing expertise meant she was perfect for this role. I can’t wait to see what Eli will do at Headline."

Dryden is also the co-founder of the Feminist Book Society, a monthly get-together set up jointly this year with Viking's Katy Loftus that hosts active panels about feminism with authors and industry insiders. On Wednesday (12th December) it celebrated its last event of 2018 at Waterstones Tottenham Court Road.