Editor of the Year
Editor of the Year Winner and Shortlist
Proudly sponsored by YMU
The enthusiastic testimonials for these nominees are testament to the life-changing impact that great editors can have on their authors. Their passion and care were amply repaid by their writers in critical acclaim and commercial success in 2024. This shortlist of nine is a mix of previous shortlistees and new talent, and features editors from seven different publishers.
The Winner
Isabel Wall
Penguin General
Late last year, Viking’s publisher for literary fiction Isabel Wall got top spot in The Bookseller’s first ever ranking of acquiring editors. Now she adds the Nibbie for Editor of the Year.
The titles cap a remarkable 12 months of editorial work that achieved both critical and mass-market acclaim for her authors. Wall was the acquiring editor of VV Ganeshananthan’s Brotherless Night, which won the Women’s Prize, and she had the Dylan Thomas and Orwell Prize winners in Caleb Azumah Nelson and Hisham Matar.
With Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s ‘lost’ novel Until August, she also steered one of the most talked-about books of the year.
The success of these titles reflects Wall’s eye for the right fusion of literary talent and commercial potential. These qualities are reflected in glowing testimonials from Wall’s authors. “It’s a joy to work with someone as committed, passionate, thoughtful, intelligent and sensitive as Isabel,” enthused one. Literary agents love her too. As one said: “Her name is synonymous with quality, ambition, trust and superb results.”
The Shortlist
Federico Andornino
Hodder & Stoughton
Federico Andornino was publishing director at Weidenfeld & Nicolson when he was shortlisted for this Award in 2022. Now executive publisher at Hodder & Stoughton’s Sceptre, he’s doing a similar job of reinvigorating a venerable literary list. David Nicholls’ You Are Here was his landmark book of 2024, and he piloted the year’s biggest debut novel, Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time.
Ruth Bennett
Bonnier Books UK
Bonnier Books UK’s editorial director Ruth Bennett led Piccadilly Press to a landmark 40th year. Stephen Mulhern’s Max Magic and Tasha Ghouri and Lizzie Huxley-Jones’ Hits Different were among her successful acquisitions, and alongside author Nathanael Lessore and co-editor Ella Whiddett she won the Branford Boase Award. “An incredible force with the biggest heart,” said one of her happy authors.
Ellen Gleeson
Bookouture
Ellen Gleeson went from publishing assistant to director in just a few years at Bookouture—recognition of her commercial instincts and ability to build big author brands. Revenue from her books doubled in 2024, with Freida McFadden’s Housemaid series the biggest contributor, though there were many more crime and thriller hits. Gleeson has also been active in Bookouture’s diversification of output.
Charlotte Mursell
Orion
Orion Fiction’s deputy publisher Charlotte Mursell is a passionate supporter of her authors and a brilliant in-house collaborator. Santa Montefiore and Samuel Burr were two of her authors delivering new hits in 2024 and established names like Veronica Henry and Kirsty Capes moved up a level. “Charlotte is the most in-tune, empathetic yet utterly driven editor out there,” said one author.
Maria Rejt
Pan Macmillan
“Truly one of the greats,” said one author of Pan Macmillan’s Maria Rejt, publisher at boutique fiction imprint Mantle, who returns to this shortlist ten years after her last appearance. Mantle published only six books in 2024, but its sales soared. Percival Everett’s James picked up several prizes and a Booker shortlist place and Homecoming by Kate Morton earned six-figure sales.
James Roxburgh
Atlantic Fiction
Publishing director James Roxburgh has tripled Atlantic Fiction’s sales in five years, thanks to astute acquisitions on modest advances. Several of his long-term authors came good in 2024, including Martin MacInnes with In Ascension, which is nearing six-figure sales, while Colin Walsh’s Kala was a smash debut. Roxburgh has also pioneered Atlantic’s rights-based commissioning project Workshop.
Isabel Wall
Viking
Viking publisher Isabel Wall struck critical and commercial gold in 2024. She was the acquiring editor of VV Ganeshananthan’s Women’s Prize winning Brotherless Night, while Yael van der Wouden and Hisham Matar had Booker recognition. On top of that were bestsellers from Elif Shafak, Elizabeth Strout and more. It was little wonder that Wall ended the year on top of The Bookseller’s first ever ranking of editors.
Kishani Widyaratna
4th Estate
4th Estate publishing director Kishani Widyaratna was last year’s Editor of the Year and went from strength to strength in 2024. Her unerring eye picked out Asako Yuzuki’s Butter, and she steered it to sales of nearly half a million copies in all markets and the title of Waterstones Book of the Year. Alongside that she worked with Reni Eddo-Lodge to launch new agenda-setting imprint Monument Books.
Rowan Yapp
Bloomsbury
On a shortlist dominated by literary fiction, Rowan Yapp shows the value of editors in non-fiction too. The head of Bloomsbury Lifestyle has freshened up the cookbook market and half of her list’s new titles became Sunday Times bestsellers, including books from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Georgina Hayden and Jon Watts. “She has an eye for both commerciality and creativity,” said one of her authors.
