Lacey departs Myriad after 15 years as parent firm 'scales back' publishing

Candida Lacey, publishing director of Myriad Editions, is leaving the trade imprint she has helmed for over 15 years.

Her move follows a decision by Myriad’s Oxford-based parent company, New Internationalist, to scale back some of its publishing activities in light of the pandemic. The company structure is under review, and further details are expected to be released in September. Based in Brighton, Myriad publishes literary and crime fiction, narrative and feminist non-fiction, and graphic novels that span a variety of genres.

Under Lacey’s leadership, Myriad established a track record of uncovering and launching debut authors who went on to achieve creative and commercial success, including two winners of the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and, most recently, winners of the 2020 East Anglian Book Awards and the Arnold Bennett Prize.

Her commissions include 2019's New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby, an anthology that seeded an annual student bursary at SOAS University of London. Lacey also commissioned Busby’s original 1992 anthology Daughters of Africa (Cape).

She joined Myriad when the company was a packager of infographic atlases, after a PhD at the University of Sussex and commissioning editor roles at Pandora Press, Unwin Hyman, HarperCollins and Jonathan Cape. In 2005 she launched Myriad’s trade publishing programme designed to showcase emerging authors, for which she won Arts Council England support in 2009 and 2011.

Commenting on her tenure, she said: "Myriad has been a huge part of my life and my publishing career, and what a joy it’s been to work with this unique family of writers, editors and artists. I’m immensely grateful to each of them for the honour and privilege of publishing their work, and to colleagues past and present for always going the extra mile, for all they have taught me, and for so many cherished memories. Enormous thanks, too, to the designers, distributors, booksellers, event organisers, reviewers and agents who have helped us to champion our authors, and to New Internationalist for their support in recent years. As much as I am loathe to leave a job that brings such fulfilment, friendship and intellectual stimulation, the time is right for me to move on to new projects."

Lacey will step down in September, while Corinne Pearlman will continue to work on Myriad’s graphic novel list and Emma Dowson at EDPR will continue to handle its publicity and promotion. Louisa Pritchard Associates and Viv Loves Film remain Myriad’s agents for foreign and film rights, and its titles will continue to be distributed by Turnaround in the UK and Consortium worldwide. Its e-books are distributed by Faber Factory.

Fran Harvey, co-director of New Internationalist, said: "Candida and her team have achieved a great deal in the last few years, and always with imaginative flair and an unbridled commitment to their authors. We were delighted to welcome Myriad to New Internationalist in 2017 and will be proud caretakers moving forward."