Connor Brown

Editorial Director, Viking

I’m after upmarket, serious non-fiction; good books with wide appeal; those in the sweet spot, with the potential to be both award-winning and bestselling. The authors I publish can communicate big ideas accessibly and engagingly. Areas I publish into include: science, history, psychology, economics, mathematics, politics, current affairs, narrative business, art, philosophy.

I like books written by the person you want to write on that particular subject, ie when academic or experiential expertise meets exceptional/accessible/enjoyable writing. I also like: having my worldview challenged/expanded; books with social purpose; newsworthy investigative journalism; counterintuitive advice in ‘stealth’-help books (ie books with lightly-worn practical elements); ultimately, I like being informed but always entertained. If it’s memoir, it needs to lean quite heavily into one of the above subjects.

Authors I’m working with at the moment include Ben Ansell, Horatio Clare, Tomoko Kitagawa & Tim Revell, the Estate of John le Carré, Luke O’Neill, Sinclair McKay, Mark Miodownik, Vaclav Smil, Devi Sridhar and Ciaran Thapar.

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