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Emma Cheshire launches publishing consultancy Highbury Literary
Faber’s former deputy rights director Emma Cheshire has launched a publishing consultancy, focusing on writers and literary estates.
Currently working on a part-time basis as a literary scout at Sylvie Zannier Literary Scouting, Cheshire has set up Highbury Literary, named after her home borough in London. Drawing on over a decade’s worth of experience in publishing, she aims to offer a range of services for both estates and writers and provide support and advice at all stages of the publishing process. She hopes to reach writers and estates based all over the country.
As part of the payment model, she has incorporated a ‘Pay What You Can’ scheme — whereby any one of Highbury Literary services will be accessible to one applicant every quarter at a payment level chosen by them — in an effort to broaden the accessibility of the publishing industry.
"I’m delighted to be setting up Highbury Literary and excited to start working even more closely with writers and estates," she said. "I’ve loved working with families, boards and trustees to honour authors’ writing and legacies, and look forward to collaborating with estates to give their titles – whether previously published or unpublished — the best possible chance to reach long-term readers as well as new audiences."
While at Faber, Cheshire led on title strategy with authors and agents for books including This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga, The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young, On Connection by Kae Tempest, Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter and Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty on the adults’ side.
She also worked directly with a number of Nobel Prize-winning literary estates across all areas of the business, including those of T S Eliot, Seamus Heaney, William Golding, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Philip Larkin and Stevie Smith.
She was named a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016 for her work around subsidiary rights management, with a particular focus on the copyright of literary estates.
