Willis leaves Orion for Bonnier as Stimpson moves to PR

Ben Willis is leaving Orion for a new publishing director role at Bonnier Books UK imprint Zaffre, while senior publicity manager Poppy Stimpson is also heading off to join Samphire Communications.

Willis (pictured above), a former Bookseller Rising Star, will be tasked with strengthening Zaffre's thriller list and brand fiction when he takes up the newly-created role in September.

He started his publishing career at Transworld and Headline, where he launched book blogger resource site bookbridgr.com, and handled the campaign for ASA Harrison’s The Silent Wife for which he won the Publicity Campaign of the Year at the Bookseller Industry Awards in 2014.

Two years later he joined Orion in a dual role as senior commissioning editor and associate publicist. During his three-year stint, Willis published bestseller The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, along with Ben Kane, Rob Sinclair, and Fear by Dirk Kurbjuweit.

He said: “I’ve absolutely loved working at Orion, an immensely creative and commercial publisher that I’m hugely proud to have been a part of. But I couldn’t resist the opportunity to join Zaffre, undoubtedly one of the most exciting fiction publishers of recent years. I can’t wait to work with the existing stars of its thriller list, alongside the extraordinary range of debuts and general fiction they publish so brilliantly.”

Kate Parkin, m.d. of adult trade publishing at Bonnier Books UK, said: “Ben’s creative energy and commercial vision is a perfect fit for our strategy of focused fiction publishing and I am thrilled he will be joining us at this exciting point in our growth. I am looking forward to working with Ben, together with Katherine Armstrong, editorial director for crime fiction, on plans to take our crime and thriller publishing to the next level.”

Meanwhile, Stimpson (pictured right) is moving to Samphire as its junior account director for the food, drink and travel list on 19th August.

Stimpson began her publishing career at Little, Brown as publicity assistant, before moving to join Transworld as publicity manager. At Orion, she worked across all imprints, publicising titles from Tina Brown, John McEnroe, the YouTubers Rose and Rosie, and Ben Ryan, the author of Sevens Heaven, which won the Telegraph Sports Book of the Year award.

This year, she has delivered four Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers in four months for Swallowtail Summer by Erica James, Twisted by Steve Cavanagh, Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, and The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.

She said: “I’m really looking forward to the next stage of my career with the brilliant and inspiring team at Samphire Communications. I have had a wonderful time working at Orion. It’s been a joy to work on such a broad and exciting list and I’ll miss everybody hugely.”

Zoe Wilmer, co-owner of Samphire, said: “We are looking forward to welcoming Poppy to our team here at Samphire. She is bringing some fantastic experience with her from both Orion and Penguin Random House and we can’t wait for her to be part of our growing team.”

Orion m.d. Kate Espiner said announcements regarding Willis and Stimpson's replacements will be made soon. 

“I know I speak on behalf of everyone at Orion when I thank Ben for his contribution to the business since he joined two years ago – not least in acquiring The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. We wish Ben a hugely successful career at Bonnier and I would also personally like to thank him for being such a positive and collegiate member of both the publicity and the editorial teams during his time at Orion,” said Espiner. “We are sad to say goodbye to Poppy, who in just over a year has worked on some of our biggest recent bestsellers, including Erica James, Steve Cavanagh, Hannah Beckerman and Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered. Her passion and energy for her authors is impressive and I know she has certainly given publishing her best shot with roles at Transworld, Little, Brown and Orion. She’ll be a real asset to Samphire Communications. Ben and Poppy’s departures give us an opportunity to recruit a new commissioning editor and a new senior publicity manager and we will be making an announcement about appointments soon.”

Last week, Orion made two high-profile promotions at its fiction team, with Emad Akhtar appointed publisher and Francesca Pathak becoming publishing director. Recent arrivals also include new communications director Maura Wilding and ex-Faber editor Lee Brackstone, who is launching a new music-centric imprint. Orion Spring and Seven Dials commissioning editor Emily Barrett is leaving to join Sphere at the end of July.