Emma Lowe joins HarperCollins as head of events

HarperCollins has appointed Emma Lowe as head of events. She will join on 17th June and report to Fiona Allen, communications director.

Lowe, who was director of publisher relations at The Bookseller between 2014 and 2023 and most recently worked at GlassBoxx as publishing account director, succeeds Sarah McPhee. McPhee is moving home to Australia with her family this summer after nearly 17 years in the UK and at HarperCollins.

In her new role, Lowe will have responsibility for HarperCollins’ internal and external corporate events, including attendance at the London Book Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair, and the planning and execution of the HarperCollins author party at the V&A and the pre-LBF party.

During her tenure at The Bookseller, Lowe spearheaded events including the British Book Awards, FutureBook and the Marketing & Publicity Conference, helping to pivot to online  events during the pandemic. At GlassBoxx, she has helped the e-commerce solutions provider with its collaborations across the publishing industry.

Fiona Allen said: “I am delighted that Emma will be joining us in this important and very public role. Emma brings invaluable experience, most notably from her time at The Bookseller where the industry could see her creativity and organisational skills through the complex and very successful events she planned. We are very sorry to be losing Sarah, who has been an exceptional and hugely admired part of this team and the company for so long, and we wish her the very best of luck in her future career back home in Australia.”

Lowe said: “Over the past 16 years, Sarah McPhee and I have had a lot of fun collaborating on a wide range of projects, making this role feel like a very natural next step for me. While I’ll miss my wonderful team at Glassboxx, who welcomed me warmly and provided an exciting glimpse into the tech side of bookselling, I am thrilled to embark on this new journey in-house with HarperCollins. See you at the V&A!”