Viking promotes Moynes and Fried as Kirke and Oladinni join team

Viking has announced a number of promotions and new hires within the fiction team, with Vikki Moynes promoted to senior commissioning editor and Lydia Fried to assistant editor.

Moynes, who steps into her new role with immediate effect, has made a number of key acquisitions for the imprint and has also recently celebrated a Sunday Times number one bestseller with Emily Henry’s fourth novel Happy Place. In her new role she will oversee strategy for the growth of romance and fantasy-crossover fiction at the imprint.

She said: “It’s been a total pleasure working with the exceptional Viking team and my wonderful authors for the past few years. I’m delighted at this opportunity to progress and continue collaborating with such awe-inspiring people, as well as the chance to keep seeking out fresh voices from the full spectrum of writers across commercial and crossover fiction."

Moynes and publishing director Harriet Bourton will both be supported by Lydia Fried, who is promoted to assistant editor. Fried’s first acquisition, Set on You, a body-positive rom-com by Amy Lea, has sold over 50,000 copies according to the publisher, and Fried also recently acquired magical romance This Spells Love by Kate Robb, which will be published in December 2023.

Edward Kirke is also joining the Viking fiction team in the newly created role of editor from Penguin Press on 22nd May, reporting to editorial director Isabel Wall. While at Penguin Press, he managed the Penguin Classics list where, with the express intention of broadening the idea of a "classic", he published books like Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto and The Trouble with Happiness by Tove Ditlevsen, as well as being an integral member of the publishing teams behind prize-winning Allen Lane titles such as Free by Lea Ypi.

At Viking, he will selectively acquire literary fiction, as well as bringing his classics expertise to Viking’s fiction backlist and supporting Wall on some of the imprint’s biggest authors.

Olatoye Oladinni also joins as editorial assistant and will support Wall and editorial director Rosa Schierenberg. Previously Oladinni served as editor of the Oxford Review of Books while studying English Literature at Oxford University. Both Kirke and Oladinni will report to Wall, who is leading the acquiring strategy for literary fiction at Viking, while Schierenberg will continue growing the imprint’s crime and thriller list.

Wall said: “I’m delighted to be bringing Edward Kirke and Olatoye Oladinni to Viking. In this newly created role, Edward will make an invaluable contribution to Viking’s literary fiction publishing. I was impressed by his distinctive taste, his sharp and perceptive insights, and his original and imaginative ideas. Together with Olatoye’s thoughtful creativity, I’m looking forward to the many exciting things that lie ahead for Viking fiction.”

Bourton commented: The combination of talent, passion and skill among our editors at Viking impresses me, along with their brilliant taste, instincts and original thinking. We have ambitious plans for our authors and the continued growth of the imprint.”