Kirsty Dunseath to leave Orion after 16 years

Kirsty Dunseath, publisher of W&N Fiction, is leaving Orion after 16 years. She said she "felt the need for a change and to do something new".

Dunseath joined Orion in 2002 as editorial director of the paperback imprint Phoenix, then switched over to full-time commissioning for the Weidenfeld & Nicolson imprint, going on to be become publisher. Her successes include three novels by Gillian Flynn, the most recent of which was the global bestseller Gone Girl, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, the Call the Midwife books by Jennifer Worth, The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett, After the Crash by Michel Bussi and The History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund, a debut that was shortlisted for last year’s Man Booker Prize. Among her other authors are Julian Fellowes, Michael Palin, Paul Torday and Joe Ide who is shortlisted for this year’s CWA John Creasey Debut Dagger.

Katie Espiner, managing director of Orion, paid tribute to Dunseath as "a wonderful publisher - passionate, incisive, thoughtful - and an excellent colleague .... She is a hugely supportive, collegiate and (above all) fun person to work with, and I know she will be hugely, hugely missed."

Dunseath said: "I have had the most fantastic time at Orion. It has been my publishing family for so long and the team has enjoyed some amazing successes. But I have been at Orion for 16 years and have felt the need for a change and to do something new. I will miss everyone at Orion enormously but am excited about thinking about my next step."

Dunseath's departure from Orion follows that of group publisher Jon Wood earlier this year.