Widyaratna promoted to publishing director at Fourth Estate

Kishani Widyaratna has been promoted to publishing director at 4th Estate, joining executive publisher David Roth-Ey and publishing directors Louise Haines and Michelle Kane on the senior management team. 

Since joining the imprint as editorial director in 2020, Widyaratna has published the bestselling debut novel of 2023, Monica Heisey’s Really Good, Actually, the Women’s Prize for Fiction-longlisted Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin, the Waterstones Debut Prize-nominated Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde, and the PEN/Faulkner Awardwinning The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li. 

Her further acquisitions include Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good by Eley Williams and Mrs S by K Patrick, both recently recognised among Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. Prior to joining 4h Estate, Widyaratna was a commissioning editor at Picador Books where her list included Sarah Moss, Raven Leilani, Jamaica Kincaid, Julia Armfield and Mieko Kawakami. She started her career in the editorial internship at Verso Books. 

Roth-Ey said: “Kishani brings unparalleled energy and publishing expertise to everything she does. Her editorial acumen is without equal and her commitment to her authors and their books runs deep. As evidenced, most recently by her acquisition of two of the recent Granta Best of Young British novelists, Kishani plays a vital role at 4th Estate, and this promotion gives her role the scope to help build on our strengths and secure 4th Estate’s relevance and importance for the future.” 

Widyaratna added: “These past few years at 4th Estate have been some of the most rewarding of my career. It is our writers who make this prestigious imprint what it is and I am grateful to my authors for their trust and their extraordinary work—it is a joy and privilege to be their editor. I also want to thank the teams at 4th Estate and HarperCollins for their exceptional talents and support, as well as David Roth-Ey, Louise Haines and Michelle Kane for their invaluable counsel. I am excited to continue our work together and look forward to the future.”