THIS WEEK JO DINGLEY CANONGATE A


Damascene moment for Jo Dingley came when she was a teenager in Cumbria and went to a reading by Sarah Hall—and suddenly knew she wanted to be an editor: “I remember thinking that I wanted to be the person that finds this kind of book.” It wasn’t a direct route,


though. After studying English at St Andrews, she paid her dues in several low- paid temporary publishing roles: “At times, it felt almost impossible for someone from my background to get a foot in the door.” She did at Canongate, working her way up from editorial assistant, and has hit her stride in the last few years, particularly in her work with up-and-comers such as Molly Aitken, Patience Agbabi and Maaza Mengiste, whose The Shadow King was Booker-shortlisted. Editing is still the focus long-term: “I want to be the catalyst between writers and readers, I want to give writers from many different backgrounds a chance to shine, with particular emphasis on working-class writers, writers from outside the metropolitan hubs, and writers from Scotland and the north.”


MAX EDWARDS AEVITAS CREATIVE MANAGEMENT A


fter working a few assistant gigs at agencies after an English degree at King’s College, London, Max Edwards was certain he had made the right career choice. Agenting appealed for its “multiplicity of disci- plines: dealing with clients, editors, the market; working on ideas


and discovering talent; sales, contracts and delicate negotiations—all bring something different out. And I loved that: I’m by no means as talented as many editors, publicists, contracts people, but I try to bring 80% of their game to bear in every part of my role.” He began building a list at Mulcahy Associates, then started out on his own before being asked to join the ground floor of ACM UK. It has been a fecund time at ACM: in the past year he has conducted 25 deals, six in six-figures. Highlights include Deborah MacKenzie’s Covid-19, sold to Little, Brown in February last year; and Hannah Durkin’s The Last Slaves, which had a major US auction and William Collins snapping it up in a pre-empt three hours after submission.


ALEX FANE FANE PRODUCTIONS


A


lex Fane launched his eponymous events company in 2017 aged 23, with five years of theatre


and music events programming behind him, and it is not hyperbolic to say it has revolutionised book events. His idea was that there was too little “in-the-room access” to authors, and a big part of the ethos was working with publishers and booksellers to institute a theatre/music tour model with high production values, a nation- wide focus (80% of Fane events are outside London) and with author fees front and centre. Yes, this means Fane has turned to big names to ensure bums on seats (Margaret Atwood, Nigella Lawson et al) but there is a focus on up-and-comers, such as Dolly Alderton and Elizabeth Day. The firm had to pivot during the pandemic, but Fane says he did not want Zoom events “because, even online, high production is key for us”. So in September Fane Online launched, in partnership with Vimeo, enabling up to 100,000 simultaneous live viewers. To date 2.4 million people have used it to watch 250 events, of which 51% were book-based.


10 9th July 2021 JAINI HARIA KOGAN PAGE “T


ransformative” is how Kogan Page marketing director Alison Middle describes the impact Jaini


Haria has had on the indie. Haria joined the business books specialist in 2018 after a politics degree at Nottingham, seeking “a career that allowed me to actively make a larger contribution to society and help others”. Highlights include shaking up how the publisher works with Amazon, using it as a marketing tool as well as a sales channel; and an upgrade of internal systems which has boosted the responsiveness to media outlets—with a corresponding spike in coverage of its titles. Last year, Haria launched the hit Off the Page digital seminar and workshop stream—managing the project as well as creating its branding—which has had over 40 events with 7,000 attendees. She has also led Kogan Page’s diversity and inclusion drive and says the industry must think long-term about infrastructure and how to progress staff: “It’s not enough to hire diverse entry-level and junior members of staff without under- standing how they feel and if they are supported within the organisation.”


Rising Stars Class of 2021


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