Griffiths promoted to head of Faber classics and heritage

Ella Griffiths has been promoted to head of Faber classics and heritage. In this new position, effective from 1st August, she will craft Faber’s heritage publishing strategy and vision for branded archive projects and beyond in the run-up to the publisher’s centenary in 2029. Griffiths will also continue to actively acquire, commission and edit frontlist literary biographies and cultural histories.

In recognition of her publishing, Griffiths has been named a 2022 Bookseller Rising Star and 2023 LBF Trailblazer. In 2021 she launched Faber Editions, a new series spotlighting radical literary voices from history. Published quarterly, these "rediscovered gems" include Rachel Ingalls’ Mrs Caliban, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks’ novel Maud Martha and Kay Dick’s They, resurrected in a prize-winning national campaign.

Alongside this, she has relaunched seasonal hits such as Margaret Kennedy’s The Feast and Celia Fremlin’s Uncle Paul – currently Waterstones’ Thriller of the Month – as well as forgotten memoirs like Beryl Gilroy’s Black Teacher and Virginia Cowles’ Looking for Trouble. She has worked with some of Faber’s key estates, such as William Golding and Lawrence Durrell, with plans for Samuel Beckett, John McGahern, Djuna Barnes and Flannery O’Connor ahead.

Griffiths also acquires frontlist non-fiction, recently publishing Leah Broad’s Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World, as well as winning a five-way auction for Catherine Humble’s Women in the Shadows of Psychoanalysis and commissioning Malachi McIntosh’s A Revolutionary Consciousness: Black Britain, Black Power and the Caribbean Artists Movement.

Publisher Alex Bowler said: "An instinctive, inspiring, modern-minded publisher, Ella has over the past four years brought transformative energy and acumen to a crucial strand of Faber’s publishing. There have been outstanding successes – launching the celebrated Faber Editions, the breakout impact of They, the seasonal triumph of Celia Fremlin’s Uncle Paul.

"In this new, elevated role, I know she will harness Faber’s reputation with the world’s readers, bringing the voices of the deeper past – some legendary, others forgotten – to new life, and doing so uniquely, with infectious spirit."

Griffiths added: "I’m so excited to be sharing Faber’s iconic 90-year history with the world in dynamic and diverse ways. I’m proud that Faber Editions is now the destination for lost voices and has reconceptualised ’backlist as frontlist’ – thanks to the extraordinary campaigns from my colleagues which connected with a passionate classics community of booksellers, authors, agents, critics and readers. Every day I feel privileged to work within – and beyond – Faber’s rich heritage and I’m hatching a number of archival projects, so watch this space!"