The Bodley Head hires Skinner into newly created role of commissioning editor

Alice Skinner will join The Bodley Head in the newly created role of commissioning editor from 15th May, commissioning across the breadth of the list.

Skinner began her career at Wimbledon BookFest and Aevitas Creative Management (then Toby Mundy Associates) before joining Penguin Press in September 2019. Since then, she has edited a wide range of Allen Lane titles and worked with authors including Anne Applebaum, Clare Carlisle, Shami Chakrabarti, Sudhir Hazareesingh, Peter Hennessy, Judith Herrin, Tristram Hunt, Mariana Mazzucato, Paul McCartney, Paul Muldoon, Chris Patten, Amartya Sen and Jackie Wullschläger.

Stuart Williams, publishing director, said of Skinner’s appointment: “I couldn’t be more pleased to welcome Alice to our team at an important moment of growth for the list. We created this role in order to publish more outstanding books marrying bold thinking with superb writing. Alice’s appetite and energy for finding those is infectious; I look forward enormously to reading the crucial new voices and future bestsellers I know she will bring to the list.”

Skinner commented: “I’m thrilled to be joining Stuart Williams and his team on this exciting new venture. My time at Penguin Press has been wonderful, and I’ll miss my colleagues and authors there dearly. 

“I’ve learned so much from working alongside Stuart Proffitt, and feel very fortunate to now put this wealth of publishing wisdom into practice. I’m a huge fan of the breadth and ambition of The Bodley Head list, which chimes with the authors and books I hope to publish in the future. I can’t wait to get started.”