Philip Gwyn Jones appointed Picador publisher after Baggaley departure

Pan Mac has appointed Philip Gwyn Jones as Picador’s new publisher following Paul Baggaley’s move to Bloomsbury.

Gwyn Jones, who has been Scribe UK’s publisher-at-large since 2014, is the former executive publisher at Granta Books. Before that, he founded Portobello Books in 2004 and also spent time as publisher of HarperCollins’ Flamingo Books.

Pan Mac said he would bring "a wealth of experience at the heart of literary publishing in the UK" to Piacdor when he arrives on 2nd June.

Publisher Jeremy Trevathan said: “Picador has enormous potential for further growth. With Philip at the helm the opportunity now exists for the team to both deepen what the imprint already does so well and to broaden it into new areas and to lead Picador into the sixth decade of its distinguished history.”

Gwyn Jones was the first British editor to acquire authors including Anna Burns, Naomi Klein, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Patrick Ness and Arundhati Roy. He has also published leading writers including J G Ballard, Nicola Barker, Joan Didion, Philip Hensher, Doris Lessing, Frank McCourt, Jane Smiley and Amy Tan during his career.

He said: "Over the past decade, Picador has grown in stature and success worldwide, rising under Paul Baggaley’s brilliant stewardship to become widely regarded as the best corporate literary imprint in the land. It is a joy and a privilege now to be invited to help honour its past, nourish its present and enhance its future. I hope to bring into the fold some useful knowledge garnered from my 15 years of adventures in independent publishing and start-up culture, and I hugely look forward to working with the marvellous Picador team, who have been publishing so brilliantly effectively these past few years."

Picador was named imprint of the year in the 2019 British Book Awards, with hit books including Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt and The Secret Barrister.

Baggaley, its current publisher, leaves at the end of this month to become Bloomsbury's editor in chief for consumer publishing. Associate publisher Francesca Main also announced her departure last month, heading to Orion where she will launch a new imprint.

Pan Mac m.d. Antony Forbes Watson said: "Philip arrives at a thriving and confident Picador, nourished by a talented, engaged and outward-looking team. We’re delighted to welcome Philip into the fold and look forward to benefiting from his publishing brain, and deep and relevant experience. Philip understands well that Picador is about publishing agenda-setting, diverse and prize-winning writing for both particular readerships and mass audiences."