Otter to join Hodder & Stoughton as non-fiction publishing director

Susannah Otter has been hired by Hodder & Stoughton to the newly created role of publishing director for non-fiction, commencing in January 2024 and reporting to non-fiction executive publisher Kirty Topiwala.

In the role, Otter will predominantly buy non-fiction for the main Hodder & Stoughton list, but will also have a brief to acquire select projects for imprints Coronet and Catalyst, run by publishers Hannah Black and Lauren Whelan respectively.

Otter is currently publishing director at Blink, part of Bonnier Books UK. During her four years at the publisher, she published books including Revenge by Tom Bower, Hope by Tom Parker, Process by Lucy Spraggan, The Audacity by Katherine Ryan and Behind the Seams by Esme Young.

Before working at Bonnier she had roles at Quadrille, publishing the likes of Chidera Eggerue and Melanie Brown, and at Vintage, where she worked across a range of narrative non-fiction and cookery titles.

Topiwala said: “I’ve long been an envious admirer of Susannah’s publishing and I am pleased that we’ll be benefiting from her creativity, dynamism and sharp commercial instincts here at Hodder. She joins a stellar team of editors and I know will help drive our future publishing to even giddier heights.”

Oliver Malcolm, m.d. of Hodder & Stoughton, said: “I am absolutely delighted that Susannah is joining Kirty Topiwala’s rapidly growing team. Her acquiring history speaks for itself, and I know that that her confidence and energy will be a brilliant addition to the wider team, further boosting our acquiring firepower and ensuring our recent successes in non-fiction continue for a long time to come.”

Otter said: “The last four years at Bonnier have been exhilarating, but this opportunity to join Kirty, Oli and rest of the team at such an exciting time for Hodder was irresistible. I am proud of what Blink has become: a true destination for the highest quality commercial non-fiction. That is all down to the brilliant authors, agents and the nonfiction team at Bonnier.”