Grewal swaps Sphere for HQ

HarperCollins has appointed Manpreet Grewal as editorial director for fiction at its HQ imprint following her eight-year stint at Little, Brown.

Grewal will leave her current role as senior editor at Little, Brown's imprint, Sphere, on 23rd October and join HQ where she will commission commercial fiction, crime and thriller and book club fiction, while contributing to the strategy and growth of the HQ fiction list.

She began her career at Transworld before moving to Little, Brown in 2009. During her time at Sphere, she has been responsible for publishing Carrie Hope, Jenny Ashcroft, Vicky Pattison and overseeing the publishing strategy for Roberta Kray. She has also worked with authors such as Carole Matthews, Jenny Colgan and Sarra Manning.

Publishing director Kate Mills said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Manpreet to the HQ team. She brings terrific passion for commercial fiction in both print and digital, and great skill and experience in publishing right to the heart of the market. HQ is about bold, ambitious, commercial publishing and I know Manpreet will play a key part in our growth going forward.”

Executive publisher at HQ, Lisa Milton, said Grewal would bring "an incredible eye, energy and vision for the fiction market and will be a tremendous asset to the team".

Grewal revealed it would be a “real wrench” to leave Sphere but that the new role was “too exciting” to miss.

She said: “I’ve had a very happy eight years at Little, Brown as part of the Sphere team, and have been lucky to have worked with some incredible colleagues and truly talented authors. It’s going to be real wrench to say ‘bye’ to them but the opportunity to grow a new list across commercial fiction genres and to play a key role in HQ’s growth was too exciting to pass up.”