World Editions moving to New York-based office led by Swedowsky

World Editions is closing its London and Amsterdam offices from 1st July 2023 and, with a new structure, will operate globally as World Editions NY LLC based in New York City following a buyout from US director Christine Swedowsky. 

Swedowsky, who has been leading the US branch of the company since March 2018, will run World Editions as publisher and principal. She commented: "When I was a little girl, I used to read for hours, regarding my books with reverence. Books were miracles to me then, and I wanted to solve the mystery of where books come from. After 25 years of working in publishing, and learning all the nitty-gritty details of the business, books still seem to have secret lives of their own. I would never have dreamed of owning a publishing house one day, and am deeply grateful to the two women who made this possible: Vera Michalski, director of Libella, for entrusting World Editions to me, and Judith Uyterlinde, former publishing director of World Editions, who has taught me most of what I know. I believe in World Editions’ mission with a passion, and can only hope to champion our authors and translators the way Judith Uyterlinde did." 

Previously owned by Libella Publishing Group, World Editions is an international literature publisher, originally set up in 2013, specialising in translated fiction. Its authors include Maryse Condé, Amin Maalouf, Pilar Quintana, Jaap Robben and Zhang Yueran and published Condé’s International Booker 2023 shortlisted title, The Gospel According to the New World. 

Former publishing director at World Editions, Uyterlinde commented: "I couldn’t have wished for a better way to guarantee World Editions’ future than to leave it in the hands of a highly committed and professional employee. I am grateful for all the years that Vera Michalski, director of Libella, has supported our mission of building bridges between cultures by publishing great literature in translation. Running World Editions has been a truly wonderful job, and I am proud of the list of high quality books we have been able to build over the past six years. I want to thank everyone I worked with, with so much joy, and am happy World Editions will be able to continue as an independent company."