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YMU is a market-leading agency specialising in premium brand and platform representation for a diverse range of award-winning writers, bestselling authors and elite creatives.


EDITOR OF THE YEAR NATASHA BARDON


THE SHORTLIST


Molly Crawford SIMON & SCHUSTER


Shadi Doostdar ROCK THE BOAT


Susannah Otter BLINK


Bella Pagan TOR


Jasmine Richards STORYMIX


Eleanor Russell


PIATKUS CONSTABLE ROBINSON


Rachel Wade HACHETTE


CHILDRENS GROUP


HIGHLY COMMENDED WERE JASMINE RICHARDS AND BELLA PAGAN


F


rom work experience to publishing director, it has been an impressive rise through the ranks for Natasha Bardon—and it is no


coincidence that her HarperVoyager list has also earned a British Book Award for Imprint of the Year. Bardon led a dramatic rise in HarperVoyager’s


sales in 2022, steering nine books into the Sunday Times’ top 10 lists and two to the pinnacle— including Juno Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, the first fantasy number one from a trans author. Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire delivered the year’s top-selling fantasy hardback, and R F Kuang’s Babel was Blackwell’s Book of the Year. While diversifying the frontlist she did great branding work on HarperVoyager’s stable of brand names, including George R R Martin and Robin Hobb. Bardon has taken on much more than the day-to-day running of the list. She has moved


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into YA publishing with the launch of Magpie Books, running in parallel with HarperVoyager with fantasy, sci-fi, speculative romance and horror. She has led the launch of a Locked Library subscription box and been instrumental in the development of a TikTok creator house, and has even found time to commission authors for other HarperCollins lists. Bardon is a collaborative colleague and a


support to other rising and aspiring publishers. She is clearly adored by authors: “Her creativity and leadership may appear effortless, but she is the most singularly dedicated in publishing I have ever worked with,” said one of them. “She is energetic, great at spotting opportuni-


ties and achieving great results,” said the judges. “Babel was published beautifully and she has done impressive work reinvigorating the backlist while acquiring diverse new talent… She has helped bring a niche list to the mainstream.”


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