HQ's Sandy appointed HarperNonFiction publishing director as academy adds design stream

Rose Sandy is moving from HQ to become publishing director for HarperNonFiction and her Author & Design Academy.

Sandy was appointed publishing director of HQ last year from her previous role as affiliate publisher for HarperChristian 360 and publisher of imprint Harper Inspire. She joined HarperCollins in 2014 from her independent publishing business Silver Gravity Publishing and previously worked at Sony, Coca-Cola and Cisco Systems.

Her new role, which starts with immediate effect, will enable her ”to focus more heavily on acquiring, with a broader remit to acquire across the narrative, lifestyle, entertainment and specialist non-fiction lists”. She will report to Adam Humphrey, publisher for HarperNonFiction.

She will also retain oversight of the HarperCollins Author Academy which she conceived and founded in 2020 to train and support writers from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds. The academy is intended to help them become commercially successful and almost 140 graduates have completed courses in writing for children, fiction, non-fiction, and industry masterclasses so far. 

The academy is relaunching as the HarperCollins Author & Design Academy for its 2022/23 academic year and admissions will open this month.

Sandy said: “Commissioning for the remarkable and commercial HQ non-fiction list has been an absolute joy and I was delighted to be part of some incredible projects. I am now looking forward to joining the dynamic team at HarperNonFiction and growing my remit to acquire and publish across the entire HarperNonFiction list.”

Humphrey added: “Rose has extensive experience as both a publisher and author, having worked as affiliate publisher for HarperChristian 360 where she created her own imprint, Inspire, and published authors such as the Archbishop of Canterbury and Guvna B. More recently at HQ she published Sunday Times bestseller Myleene Klass and worked on the acquisition of authors such as James Davies and Davina McCall. We cannot wait to work with Rose in HarperNonFiction where we look forward to her acquiring and publishing many more bestsellers.”

HQ executive publisher Lisa Milton said it had been “wonderful” working with Sandy, adding: “I am very sorry that she is leaving HQ but I am delighted that she is going no further than HarperNonFiction and will bring her trademark energy and creativity to the team there.”