Follain departs Quercus for new role at Bloomsbury

Katy Follain is to join Bloomsbury in the newly created role of head of general, departing Quercus where she is non-fiction publisher.

The role fits in to the new structure of the publisher’s adult consumer division, which was announced earlier this year. Follain will start her new role in spring 2023, reporting to editor-in-chief Paul Baggaley.

Follain joined Quercus from Canongate in 2015. Her titles include Stories for Boys Who Dare To Be Different by Ben Brooks, the critically acclaimed Broken Greek by Pete Paphides, comedian Bill Bailey’s meditations on birds and happiness, and TommyInnit Says… The Quote Book by TommyInnit and Wilbur Soot. Starting in publishing as a publicity assistant at Orion, she then became maternity cover for the marketing director at Hodder & Stoughton, while on a sabbatical before moving into editorial. Other career highlights include The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley, I Am Not Your Baby Mother by Candice Brathwaite and Ooh! What a Lovely Pair by Ant & Dec.

“When an opportunity to start a whole new division at a place like Bloomsbury comes along, you have to say yes,” Follain said. “I am thrilled to be such a big part of Bloomsbury’s growth plan and can’t wait to bring a more commercial flavour to some of its publishing. 

“Quercus will always have a special place in my heart – it has a refreshingly unique approach to publishing books, and it is packed with extremely talented people. I have loved working with Jon Butler, who is not only an impressive m.d. but also a very creative brain who thinks internationally, but it’s time for new ambitions and adventures.”

Baggaley said: “I am delighted that Katy Follain will be joining Bloomsbury in this very important senior role. Katy will join our two existing divisional heads, Alexis Kirschbaum (trade) and Rowan Yapp (lifestyle) to complete a team of experienced and ambitious publishers. 

“I know that Katy will lead the commissioning and the publishing with strategic vision, commercial focus and publishing flair and she brings her unique experience of working across a number of corporate and independent publishers. I couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome her to Bloomsbury.”

Bloomsbury Adult Consumer is now organised into three sub-divisions: Bloomsbury Trade, Bloomsbury Lifestyle and Bloomsbury General. Bloomsbury General includes the crime imprint Raven. The General division will now be expanded into new key areas of commercial fiction, genre fiction (including science fiction and fantasy) and commercial non-fiction.