Yale University Press London appoints Reitha Pattison as head of rights

Reitha Pattison has been appointed head of rights at Yale University Press London, having joined Yale in March.

She began her career in rights at Polity Press in Cambridge, establishing the press’s first rights and permissions department, and managing its translations list. After a break to pursue doctoral research, she returned to publishing and worked for Cambridge University Press for 10 years, rising to the head of rights and permissions position. She then moved to Rebellion in Oxford to set up its first rights department, licensing its portfolio of comics, graphic novels, speculative fiction and board games.

Pattison has been a freelance editor of poetry and prose, and has published her own essays, poetry and short fiction. “Working with comics and fiction after 15 years of academic publishing was a wonderful experience that gave me a fresh sense of the potential shapes rights management can take,” she said. “I’m delighted to now be part of the team at Yale, overseeing the licensing of their exceptional list, whose breadth of scholarly and creative writing is world-renowned, and building on the successes of the past.”

Heather McCallum, managing director and publisher at Yale University Press London, added: “We are thrilled to have Reitha Pattison join the Press as our head of rights, responsible for all Yale University Press titles, originated by both London and New Haven [...] She appreciates the landscape of university press and scholarly publishing as well as very diverse trade publishing and has strong commercial experience, as well as hands-on knowledge of and connections in multiple territories.”

McCallum added: “Reitha’s own academic background makes her a strong ally for authors and editors alike and she commands wide respect in the industry for her technical innovativeness as well as leadership. Sales of our titles in other languages in particular have grown significantly over recent years and I’m sure that Reitha will build on this impressively.”