Penguin Random House Children’s strengthens editorial team

Penguin Random House UK Children’s has made a number of promotions and appointments within its fiction team to further strengthen the commissioning strategy and build on the success of the list. Anthea Townsend is promoted to Editorial Director. As well as managing Penguin Random House Children's substantial programme of Roald Dahl publishing, Townsend has also published the Lollies-nominated Danger is Everywhere series by David O’Doherty and Chris Judge, Rick Yancey’s 5th Wave trilogy, and will continue to commission new fiction authors.  

In a move to develop and grow the success of social media and celebrity publishing for children and young adults, Holly Harris joins the Children’s team on Monday 22 August as Commissioning Editor. Currently with Headline’s non-fiction team, she has worked with best-selling talent such as The Vamps, Marcus Butler, Charlotte Crosby, Fleur de Force and Bryony Gordon.

Shannon Cullen, Publishing Director, says: ‘We are delighted to announce these changes within our team. Anthea Townsend has had a huge influence on our strategy for Roald Dahl in the past 18 months and, along with the wider Roald Dahl team, has driven innovation and growth across our publishing. Anthea is also a smart and intuitive acquiring editor, which is reflected in the quality of the titles she commissions. 

And I am very excited to welcome Holly Harris. Holly has a natural talent for spotting highly commercial opportunities. As the publishers of Zoe Sugg, Tom Fletcher, Clare Balding and Lilly Singh, we have always aimed to be innovative in the way we develop great stories and storytellers in this space. Holly’s appointment is very much part of this strategy and will strengthen the experience we already have in the team.’ 

In addition Tig Wallace is promoted to Editor. He will continue to work on established Penguin Random House authors Chris Bradford and Sally Green, and commission new titles such as Lilly Singh’s How to be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life, recently acquired in partnership with Michael Joseph. Emma Jones is also promoted to Assistant Editor. Emma will be working closely with Anthea Townsend on Roald Dahl, as well as working across the Puffin Classics list and on other fiction titles.

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