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Harvill Secker rebrands to focus on fiction
Harvill Secker is rebranding to become a dedicated fiction imprint, Harvill, commissioning across a greater variety of genres, including romance, fantasy and science fiction, as publishing director Liz Foley moves into a new role as associate publishing director and her deputy Katie Ellis-Brown leaves to focus on writing. Harvill will be recruiting a new publishing director to lead the list.
The Vintage imprint will no longer acquire or publish non-fiction, and will instead focus on “reinforcing its commitment to addictive storytelling from around the world with a new focus solely on acquiring fiction across a broad range of genres”.
Harvill said of the new structure at the Vintage imprint: “The division will recruit a new publishing director to lead the imprint in this exciting direction, as Liz Foley takes the opportunity to move to a new role as associate publishing director, having led the imprint successfully for 16 years.” Senior commissioning editor Ellie Steel continues with Foley in the commissioning team, while Ellis-Brown leaves her deputy publishing director role at the end of June to concentrate on her writing career, following her six-figure debut deal with HarperVoyager. Publicity director Mia Quibell-Smith and head of marketing Sam Rees-Williams complete the senior team.
This year, Harvill will publish novels from 15 different countries in 15 different genres and is looking to reach even further into and across genres like crime, thriller, horror, science fiction, romance and fantasy, and to acquire “the highest quality, most original and inventive writing from around the globe”, the imprint said.
The news follows the closure of its non-fiction imprint Square Peg, with adult trade non-fiction sales at their lowest point for six years last year.
Twenty years after becoming known as Harvill Secker, the imprint will simplify its name to Harvill with a new look for its Arctic tern (sea bird) colophon. “The imprint evolved from the lists of the Harvill Press and Secker & Warburg [the lists merged in 2005] and its name comes from founders Manya Harari and Marjorie Villiers (Har-vill), who searched across the globe for the best stories to bring to readers [launching Harvill Press in 1946],” Harvill said. “This is also why Harvill’s colophon is the arctic tern – an enterprising bird which flies from pole to pole following the sun, representing the imprint’s mission to seek out the best and brightest books for everyone.”
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Foley said: “It’s been my privilege and pleasure to lead Harvill for the last 16 years and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to focus even further on my authors and to acquiring new voices across the range of the list. It’s been truly invigorating and rewarding to set up this new strategy for Harvill’s future, and I am looking forward to supporting our new publishing director with our future publishing immensely.”
Hannah Telfer, Vintage managing director, said: “Throughout its long and varied history, Harvill’s commitment to inventive writers and great stories has remained constant, alongside the imprint’s mission to bring readers the best books from around the world [...] The Harvill commissioning team will be seeking out brilliant fiction that will transport readers to new worlds, new experiences and the sheer pleasure of reading.”
Harvill said it will now focus on “addictive storytelling from around the world with unmissable contemporary novels, electrifying thrillers, spellbinding historical tales and immersive and world-building fiction”. The imprint already publishes major writers such as Haruki Murakami, Jo Nesbo, JM Coetzee, Abir Mukherjee, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Tommy Orange, Denise Mina, Elaine Feeney, Sunjeev Sahota, Sheila Heti and Édouard Louis.
