Youssef promoted to senior commissioning editor at S&S Children's

Simon & Schuster Children’s Books has promoted Amina Youssef to senior commissioning editor. 

The promotion recognises Youssef’s "outstanding editorial eye, exceptional author care and contribution to the wider team", as well as her role in the division’s growth plans across middle-grade and YA fiction. Youssef will continue to report to Lucy Pearse, editorial director.

After joining the publisher as commissioning editor in November 2020, Youssef brought authors including Abiola Bello, Nick Sheridan and Finn Longman to the company. Among other authors, she has championed rising star Benjamin Dean, acquiring his hotly-anticipated YA novel The King is Dead, which publishes in July – and spearheaded the success of Tọlá Okogwu’s Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun, currently Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month. 

Youssef has been a regular participant in industry panel events and mentorship schemes, including the Bradford Literary Festival, All Stories, Megaphone and the Bookseller New Futures Scheme, and is an advocate for greater representation within the children’s book world. 

She said: "I’m over the moon to be taking a step up within the inimitable S&S Children’s team during a period of exciting growth for the company as a whole. I can’t wait to continue working with our incredible authors and wonderful colleagues in this new capacity, and I look forward to discovering fresh voices to publish on our standout list."

Ali Dougal, children’s publishing director, said: "Amina has consistently impressed since she joined the S&S children’s fiction team. She is a go-getter who really cares, acquiring with an ambition that carries the whole team along with her, and managing established bestsellers with confidence and flair. I’m delighted to recognise her considerable achievements with this very well-deserved promotion."