Pennell swaps Bloomsbury for Salamander Street

Bloomsbury’s Mason Pennell has been appointed sales manager and associate editor at theatre specialist publisher Salamander Street, as the company celebrates a year of growth.

He makes the moves following stints at Bloomsbury, Oberon Books and Samuel French. He joins Salamander after an "exceptional" year with sales of  Brickwork: A Biography of The Arches by Kirstin Innes, titles by David Bratchpiece and Breaking into Song: Why You Shouldn’t Hate Musicals by Adam Lenson are said to have been particularly strong. 

Publisher George Spender said: "I’m absolutely delighted to welcome Mason to Salamander Street. He combines a comprehensive understanding of the mechanics of the book trade, with excellent business acumen and a wide-ranging knowledge of contemporary drama. His experience working at Samuel French, Bloomsbury and Oberon Books makes him an invaluable addition as we continue to expand and corner the drama market."

Pennell added: "I’m thrilled to be working with George and I can’t wait to contribute to the further growth of the business as we continue to develop the drama list, while also focusing on finding more titles about the arts and subcultures."

The publisher specialises in titles for the UK drama publishing market, and recently released two GCSE drama set texts and a number of nationally reviewed non-fiction books. It began worldwide distribution with Consortium earlier in the year and plans further expansion in 2022.

As well as contemporary drama, the publisher will be publishing a series of books exploring subcultures, beginning with the 10th anniversary edition of Full Bleed: New York City Skateboarding by Alex Corporan, with a new foreword by Tony Hawk.

Other forthcoming projects include plays by Kemp Powers, who was Oscar-nominated for "One Night in Miami", and award-winning director Yaël Farber, who recently directed "Macbeth" with Saoirse Ronan.