Faber’s von Hirschberg to join W&N as publishing director 

Weidenfeld & Nicolson has appointed Alexa von Hirschberg as publishing director, moving from the same role at Faber.

Before joining Faber in 2019, von Hirschberg spent 11 years at Bloomsbury, where she published a wide-ranging list of fiction writers including Kae Tempest, Melissa Harrison, Natasha Pulley, Benjamin Myers, Damian Barr, Zoe Gilbert, Patrick de Witt and more.

She also published several non-fiction authors including Reni Eddo-Lodge. Since joining Faber, where she was responsible for the publisher’s music and popular culture list, von Hirschberg has published Richard Thompson, Jackie Kay, Brian Eno, Will Ashon, Michael Pedersen and others.

Von Hirschberg was named head of Faber social in 2019 and appointed to the role of publishing director in 2021. She will join the W&N team in February and will report to Jenny Lord, executive publisher of W&N.

Lord said: “Talking to Alexa about books and publishing has always been incredibly energising and inspiring and we are all so excited that she has agreed to join us here at W&N. A hugely spirited and deeply invested publisher, Alexa has the kind of wide-ranging taste and experience that is so rare. Particularly, I know she will do wonderful things working alongside Lettice Franklin to build on our recent fiction successes. We can’t wait to get started."

Von Hirschberg said: ‘“It has been a joy and privilege to run the music list at Faber during these last few years of transition and I am so proud of the growth we have achieved and the outstanding authors we have published. 

“While I will miss them and the whole Faber team enormously, I am incredibly excited to be joining W&N at such a vibrant and dynamic time in the imprint’s story, and to return to publishing fiction. Jenny is a superb publisher and has assembled a stellar team at W&N; the opportunity to work with them all was irresistible.”