John Murray publisher Roland Philipps to leave Hachette

Roland Philipps is leaving Hachette after 22 years at Hodder & Stoughton, most recently as publisher of John Murray, to concentrate on working as a consultant with publishers and authors, as well as his own writing career.

He will leave Hachette at the end of the year. Philipps' first book, a biography of spy Donald Maclean, was bought by The Bodley Head in July.

He joined Hodder & Stoughton in 1994 as publisher and was promoted soon after to publishing director of non-fiction, as well as managing a small list of distinguished novelists including John le Carré and Justin Cartwright. He became managing director of John Murray after its acquisition in 2002 and oversaw its integration into Hachette.

During his career with Hodder and John Murray, Philipps has published authors including James Frey, Deborah Devonshire, Mo Mowlam, Artemis Cooper, Amitav Ghosh, Lloyd Jones, Eric Schmidt, Giles Milton, among others.

His new book, A Spy Named Orphan, about a spy for the Soviets recruited at Cambridge (one of the "Cambridge Five"), will be the first biography of Maclean to take into account MI5 files related to his case released in September. The book is slated for release in 2018. 

Philipps said: “I've enjoyed my time at Hodder and John Murray immensely and am profoundly grateful to have worked with so many outstanding authors and colleagues, and am proud of what we have achieved through a time of great change in the publishing world. I now look forward to the next stage in my career, and to working with authors and publishers on a freelance basis, as well as to pursuing my own writing.”

Jamie Hodder Williams, c.e.o. of Hodder & Stoughton, Headline John Murray and Quercus, added: "Roland has made a massive contribution to Hodder and to John Murray during his time here – as an editor of the highest quality for a range of bestselling and prize-winning authors, as well as for his publishing wisdom and experience. I am delighted that Roland will continue to be part of the John Murray story as a consultant. We wish him the very best of luck with his writing and other plans.”