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Jamie Birkett and Eva Hodgkin join William Collins
William Collins has appointed Jamie Birkett as editorial director and Eva Hodgkin as commissioning editor, replacing Shoaib Rokadiya and Jo Thompson respectively.
Birkett joined Penguin in 2021, commissioning and publishing a broad range of non-fiction across the Penguin Life, Penguin Business and Viking lists, including Russell Foster’s Sunday Times bestselling Life Time, Andrew Jenkinson’s How to Eat (And Still Lose Weight), Daniel Goleman and Cary Cherniss’ Optimal, James Kinross’ Dark Matter and Sarah Langford’s Wainwright Nature Prize-shortlisted Rooted.
Prior to Penguin, Birkett began his career at Bloomsbury, where he worked with authors including the Economist’s Paris bureau chief Sophie Pedder, Ferdinand Mount, Adam Thorpe, Archbishop Rowan Williams and BBC correspondents Nick Bryant and Rory Cellan-Jones.
His appointment comes a month after Hodgkin joined the team as commissioning editor after nearly five years spent working at Allen Lane where she edited a range of bestselling and prize-winning non-fiction, including Shon Faye’s The Transgender Issue, Malcolm Gaskill’s The Ruin of All Witches and Clair Wills’ Missing Persons. She was part of the campaigns behind authors like Michael Lewis, Bernie Sanders, Dominic Sandbrook and Naomi Klein, as well as acquiring literary fiction for Penguin Classics, including Roy Heath’s psychological study The Murderer and Gun Britt Sundstrom’s cult feminist hit, Engagement.
Both will report to William Collins publishing director Arabella Pike.
Birkett said: “I feel immensely privileged to be joining the team at William Collins, an imprint I have long admired for the quality of its non-fiction, the intelligence of its publishing and strong emphasis on the power of ideas. I’m greatly looking forward to working with Arabella Pike, Eva Hodgkin and the rest of the team to build a list of pioneering non-fiction in science, health, politics, memoir, business, current affairs, narrative non-fiction and smart thinking. I’ve learned so much from the hugely talented team at Penguin General, and shall miss my PRH colleagues enormously, but I’m very excited for what the future may bring and by the prospect of publishing with a wider non-fiction remit once again.”
Hodgkin added: “I feel very fortunate to have joined the talented team at William Collins – it’s home to some of my favourite books, from Wild Swans to Say Nothing. I learned a great deal from colleagues and authors at Penguin Press and I’m very grateful for all the opportunities it gave me. In my new role, I’m Iooking forward to finding fresh voices with big ideas from a range of backgrounds and languages, with a particular interest in politics, economics, history, family history, and science.’
Pike said: “I am delighted to welcome these two brilliant publishers to William Collins. Eva has already demonstrated her considerable skills as an editor and her ability to work sensitively and creatively with an array of different writers. I cannot wait for Jamie to start with us in April. It was clear from the moment we began to discuss the role that he could bring so much originality and expertise to the list. Both Eva and Jamie will help us build William Collins into an even greater force tomorrow than it is today.”
Hodgkin can be reached at eva.hodgkin@harpercollins.co.uk
From the 22nd April Birkett will be available at jamie.birkett@harpercollins.co.uk
