The Class of 2025 1
Madeline Adeane Farshore
After a decade working in visual arts PR, Madeline Adeane had an “epiphanic moment” about changing careers while lying on her toddler’s bedroom floor, which eventually led to joining Farshore in 2023. Though she had to get to grips with “all of the publishing acronyms”, a year later she was promoted and named the division’s New Employee of the Year. Highlights have included working on the campaigns for Alexander Armstrong’s debut novel for kids and Holly Jackson’s latest YA, both of which earned her PPC Award shortlistings, as well as a major media announcement of two new Mr Men/Little Miss characters. In addition, she co-chairs the company’s parenting and carer employee network and outside work runs monthly children’s and teen book clubs. She has no regrets about coming into publishing later on as she regularly draws on networks and insight from her previous job, advising “don’t stay in a book bubble – some of the best and most original ideas can come from other industries – it’s important to engage with the wider news agenda”.
Alexa Allen-Batifoulier Del Rey 2
Alexa Allen-Batifoulier was part of the dreaded class of 2020: those who began careers in the worst of the pandemic. But the American thrived, starting at Amistad, HarperCollins US’ imprint focused on marginalised and under-represented communities. Her experience there fuelled her as she crossed the pond, searching for a career that “followed that thread of social impact”. She joined Virago in 2022, moving across Hachette to Dialogue a year later to commission “at the intersection of entertainment and inclusion”. In June of this year, Del Rey poached her as a senior commissioning editor; a dream job, as fantasy is where she started her whole reading journey. SFF is obviously having a moment, and Allen-Batifoulier says: “It’s commercially thriving, but it’s also a space where authors, publishers and readers from a broader range of backgrounds are reshaping the genre. Longer term, I’d like to be part of a publishing culture that reflects the revolutionary potential of the stories we champion.”
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Sydney Allen Glassboxx
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After university, Sydney Allen worked for seven years as a sales rep to hotel chains in her native California. She enjoyed it, but harboured ambitions to move into an industry she was truly passionate about and that tapped into her love of books. The pandemic, in a way, helped: with the hospitality sector reeling, she crossed the pond to do the publishing MA at University College London. While on the course, she attended the FutureBook Conference, met the sales director of publishing e-commerce specialists Glassboxx and “asked for a job – something I continued doing relentlessly for the next couple of months”. The persistence paid off for Allen – and Glassboxx. She moved from account management to product manager, now responsible for developing new platforms and relaunching existing product suites. Going forward, Allen is hopeful for fewer barriers into the UK industry from those “outside the traditional pool”. She explains: “Reading is a global experience, so having a more diverse community to fuel it is essential and valuable.”
4 4 Suzannah Ball WME
Two teacher parents instilled Norwich native Suzannah Ball’s love of books, though her dad, who was head of English at her secondary school, despaired that too much of what his daughter read was “vampire-oriented”. But she knew “the escapism and comfort I found in storytelling was something I wanted to chase”. Throughout her career – internship at Head of Zeus, junior roles at Aitken Alexander, joining WME in 2019, initially as Matilda Forbes Watson’s assistant – the literary agent has done just that, in particular building an enviable list in the romance, horror, fantasy and speculative fiction space since she began repping her own clients in 2022. She has brokered multi-publisher auctions and overseen deals for stars and stars-in-the-making such as Sarah A Parker, Callie Hart and Rachel Wood. And although she is thrilled by the “real cultural moment” of SFF and romance becoming mainstream, she says that “readers resonate with books that feel authentic and human”.
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Features
Rising Stars
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