Editor of the Year
WINNER SIMON PROSSER
Simon Prosser marked his 20th anniversary at Hamish Hamilton last year, and rarely can he have had as much commercial and critical success to celebrate. The imprint with which he has become synonymous had a stellar 2017, and Prosser’s creative vision and risk-taking commissioning was behind it. Some of the hits were from established names, including Arundhati Roy, whose long-awaited return he made one of the publishing events of the year; and Ali Smith, who with Mohsin Hamid gave Hamish Hamilton two of the six books on the Man Booker Prize shortlist. Four of its books reached the longlist—a record for an imprint. But other successes came from leftfield. They included The Lost Words
by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, a lavish illustrated hardback that was a major departure for the list, but that perfectly demonstrated Prosser’s desire to go off the beaten track. He looked far beyond white British literary circles too, publishing acclaimed books from Hari Kunzru, Yiyun Li and Helon Habila, as well as Hamid—all of them engaging with modern and urgent issues of humanity. It showed his ambition to make a difference in his publishing, as well as to sell books—though with Hamish Hamilton’s sales rocketing in 2017, they did that too. “Simon had a remarkable year—a just reward for all his creativity and
originality,” said the judges. “Making purely literary publishing work can be a hard road, but he makes it look easy.” They also noted the huge re- spect in which he is held by writers. “His authors are so loyal—they believe in him just as much as he believes in them.” This was one of the most competitive categories at The British Book
Awards 2018, and with none of the eight editors previously shortlisted, judges admired the wealth of publishing flair in the industry. “There are a lot of bold and visionary editors around at the moment.”
KEY STRENGTHS
Deft handling of star novelists including Zadie Smith and Arundhati Roy
Steered a range of surprise bestsellers in 2017, led by The Lost Words
A third of the titles on the Man Booker Prize longlist and shortlist
SHORTLIST
FRANCIS BICKMORE The Canongate editor behind the phenomenal success of Matt Haig, his diverse 2017 list also included Robert Webb's hit memoir.
KATIE COTTON Founder of Quarto’s First Editions list and a driving force of its illustrated children’s non-fiction—and an author in her own right too.
DAVID FICKLING Renowned children’s editor now at his eponymous publishing house, he steered one of the biggest books of 2017, La Belle Sauvage.
JACK FOGG HarperCollins editor whose bold and distinctive non-fiction publish-
THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS WINNERS 2018
ing in 2017 ranged from cricketers, to doctors, to heavy metal stars.
HELEN GARNONS-WILLIAMS Delivered Fourth Estate two Costa win- ners (Jon McGregor, Rebecca Stott), and commands huge loyalty among authors.
FRANKIE GRAY A figurehead for Transworld’s commercial fiction, she goes beyond editing to guide other elements of publishing strategies for her authors.
LAURA HASSAN Faber's editorial direc- tor has built some big-name authors and had a surprise hit in 2017 with Rosamund Young’s The Secret Life of Cows.
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Passionate commitment to diversity of voices in literary publishing
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