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Oneworld is firing up its publishing activities with a host of new recruits and its first digital imprint.
The independent publisher has just moved offices to 10 Bloomsbury Street, London, and has hired former Little, Brown editorial director Jenny Parrott in the newly created role of editorial director of fiction.
Meanwhile former Bloomsbury publicist Henry Jeffreys has been hired as head of publicity, Charlotte van Wyck from Quercus has become senior commissioning editor, Gail Lynch has joined as head of sales and former Foyles bookseller James Magniac has joined Oneworld's fiction team.
The company plans "major expansion" of its fiction list, expecting to increase output from 13 titles this year to 40 by 2015. A new history list will be launched this summer. It is also looking to acquire additional lists.
Juliet Mabey, publisher at Oneworld said: "Investigations are underway to seek out small publishers who, in these troubled times, might be looking to join forces. We still have one empty floor in our office, so are well placed to acquire some additional lists if the right companies come under our radar."
The publisher said it was particularly interested in lists which fit its core interests in fiction or "intelligent, accessible" non-fiction. "We are also considering branching out into illustrated non-fiction lists, and children's titles," Mabey said.
In digital, a new imprint called Oneworld Expresso has launched this week, with short stories and essays taken from the Beacons collection edited by Gregory Norminton, with authors ranging from Joanne Harris to Nick Hayes. Each will be priced 77p, with all proceeds going to the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition. Mabey said: "The authors have all been fantastically generous, and in addition to the stories they are donating a lot of their time to speak at festivals on behalf of the book."
The publisher is also in the process of setting up a stationery line to fund its own forthcoming charity Oneworld Foundation, which will aim to help reading projects abroad. It expects to launch an online magazine to reach customers directly with news of its titles in the next six months.