Expanding Boldwood appoints Mauger, partners with Speed

Indie Boldwood Books has acquired seven new authors, while also bringing Leila Mauger onto its team as head of production and forging a new partnership with Luke Speed to represent its film and TV rights.

Mauger (pictured) joins Boldwood’s 15-strong team after seven years as senior production manager at Nosy Crow, with previous stints at Bloomsbury, DK and Macmillan.

Boldwood c.e.o. Amanda Ridout said: "With Leila’s arrival we will be ensuring that our robust production systems will be future-proofed as we expand the Boldwood list and title numbers." Mauger said she was "excited to join a fast-growing, forward-looking company that is on the move".

Meanwhile the indie is also establishing a partnership with Speed, founder and m.d. of Speed Literary and Talent Mangement, to represent Boldwood’s film and TV rights around the world. Speed has recently set up his own agency as a joint-venture with the YMU Group, having previously worked as the primary agent for Book & IP to Film rights at Curtis Brown for seven years, brokering deals for Bonnie Garmus, Lucy Foley and Louise Candlish among others.

Speed praised the range of Boldwood’s material and its "unabashed commercial sensibility" and said he was "really looking forward to helping their fantastic list of authors to realise their film and TV ambitions". Ridout described the partnership as "a very exciting development".

Boldwood’s seven new signings, all contracted on multi-book deals, include historian and prolific novelist Nicola Cornick, previously published by HQ; her first book for Boldwood will be set in the time of Charles II and released in March 2024.

Also coming to the indie are historical romance writers Jenni Keer and Patricia McBride, the former most recently published by Headline and shortlisted for the 2023 RNA Historical Romantic Novel of the Year, and the latter writing a new Second World War series for Boldwood based in the East End of London during the Blitz.

Also new to Boldwood are rom-com authors authors Laura Carter and Jo Lovett; Carter’s first book for Boldwood, The Law of Attraction, will be out this August, as will Lovett’s first title for the indie, Another Time, Another Place. 

Finally, women’s fiction authors Laura Pearson and Katie Marsh are also among the new signings, the latter turning to cosy crime for Boldwood, with How to Murder Your Ex, the first in a new series.

The writers will be published in every format simultaneously in all English-language territories. Boldwood’s author total now stands at 122.

Ridout said: "After an award-winning month [Boldwood won Small Press of the Year at the British Book Awards], and having now passed the milestone of 14 million books sold around the world, we are delighted to be welcoming more brilliant authors to our family."