W&N editorial director Murphy leaves after non-fiction team 'review'

Editorial director for Weidenfeld & Nicolson (W&N), Paul Murphy, is leaving his role after more than eight years with Orion following a “review" of the imprint's non-fiction commissioning team.

Murphy joined Orion in 2010 as editorial manager of its paperbacks division, having previously worked at Edinburgh’s Mainstream Publishing, in Edinburgh, and Little, Brown. He was promoted to his current role from a W&N senior editor position in 2016. News of his departure was announced today.

Successful books he worked on during his time at W&N included Sunday Times bestsellers Blue by John Sutherland and Brave New World by Guillem Balagué, along with Where Poppies Blow by John Lewis Stempel, which won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing.

He said: “I have hugely enjoyed my eight and a half years at Orion, working alongside some brilliantly talented people. I have had the privilege of contributing to some of the company’s most successful books during my time as a paperbacks editor, and I have enjoyed real success building my own list at W&N over the past few years. I have quickly established a fantastic roster of talented and inspiring authors, and it has given me great satisfaction to have contributed to making their books the best they could be.

“I am now very much looking forward to continuing my career at the earliest opportunity and publishing many more quality non-fiction books in the future.

Publisher Jenny Lord said: “Paul is a passionate and dedicated editor and publisher who has been a great colleague and ambassador for the W&N list. We wish him every success in this next stage of his career.”

Murphy is the latest high-profile departure from Orion following the announcement last week that consultant publisher and Gollancz chair Malcolm Edwards was stepping down from his roles.