Orion appoints Eribo and Coleman as non-fiction publishing directors

Orion has announced HarperCollins’ Vicky Eribo and Jamie Coleman from PRH Children’s are joining the firm as publishing directors to help grow its commercial non-fiction.

Currently editorial director for Harper Non-Fiction, Eribo will join Seven Dials, while Coleman, also an editorial director at PRH, will join the Trapeze non-fiction team. They both arrive on 14th October and will report to executive publisher Anna Valentine.

Eribo has worked at HarperCollins for 11 years, publishing books from the likes of Amelia Freer, One Direction, Little Mix and Justine Picardie, Dion Leonard and the “Victoria” TV tie-in. She has also developed and delivered the strategy for Harper Non-Fiction’s true-life list, including nurturing brand authors Cathy Glass and Casey Watson.

Orion said Eribo will be working with Valentine on re-launching Seven Dials as the “home of big-name commercial non-fiction”, and will be acquiring across a broad range including celebrity memoir, pop culture, TV tie-in, sport, cookery, lifestyle and inspirational memoirs.

She said: “I’ve had so many happy years at HarperCollins and feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to work with such fantastic authors and talented colleagues. I’m so grateful for all the opportunities that HarperCollins have given me in this time, but I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to lead the publishing for Seven Dials and be part of its reinvention. Orion is clearly a very exciting place to be right now, and I’m honoured to be joining the brilliant non-fiction team under Anna’s leadership, and cannot wait to get started with this new challenge.”

At PRH, Coleman looks after licensed publishing brands including “Avatar”, “Stranger Things” and “Doctor Who”. He also works across the whole Puffin non-fiction strategy. Prior to his time at PRH, he was a senior commissioning editor at Pan Macmillan, acquiring bestsellers by The Secret Barrister, Scarlett Moffatt and I, Spy by Tom Marcus. 

At Orion, Coleman is tasked with acquiring “conversation-starting, agenda-setting non-fiction” for the Trapeze list, as well as working with Valentine and fiction publishing director Sam Eades on driving the strategy for the three-year-old imprint’s next phase.

He said: “There’s nobody better at finding the pop culture pulse than Trapeze. Like everyone else, I’ve watched over the last three years as they’ve quickly become a massive part of the UK publishing landscape. I can’t wait to work with the talented teams there to cement our position as the pre-eminent commercial non-fiction list in the country, and evolve what a Trapeze book can be. I can’t think of a more exciting place to be commissioning right now.”

Alongside the two new hires, there have also been recent promotions for Ru Merritt, who became a senior editor at Orion Spring, and Marleigh Price who has been given a role as editor for Trapeze non-fiction. Both will be developing their own lists.

Valentine said: “I’m delighted to make these changes to our non-fiction publishing and to welcome Vicky and Jamie to Orion, publishers who I have long respected and admired, and to promote Ru and Marleigh who have proven themselves to be astute editors and commissioners. In this thrilling time in the market, I’m looking forward to working with them on strengthening Orion’s reputation as a non-fiction powerhouse, renowned for creating big bestsellers across a broad range of subject areas. Their outstanding reputations, dynamism and energy make Vicky and Jamie the perfect fit for Orion, and I’m hugely excited about the commercial and critical successes and innovations they will deliver in the years ahead.”