People of Publishing
The Publishers Association’s People of Publishing campaign spotlights the brilliant people behind some of the most interesting, innovative and exciting things happening in our industry.
Publishers connect creators and audiences, bringing stories and ideas to life. And it’s the people in our industry that enable this to happen.
This year’s People of Publishing submissions were judged by Dan Conway, CEO of the Publishers Association, Josie Dobrin, Executive Chair and Founder of Creative Access and Philip Jones, Editor of The Bookseller.
The Publishers Association run the campaign annually, with nominations for the next cohort opening in 2025.
It is the imagination, dedication, and tenacity of our people that allows the UK’s publishing sector to thrive and continue to be world leading. Congratulations to the 2024 People of Publishing cohort.
The 2024 People of Publishing
Caroline Gorham, Production and Systems Director at Canongate
This year has been a career high for Caroline as she championed and led Canongate’s successful application to become the first trade publisher with B Corp Certification. This is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of performance, accountability, and transparency on everything from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and materials. The certification process is thorough and took two and a half years of hard work to deliver. Caroline’s passion and dedication in this area is both impressive and inspiring.
Caroline sits on multiple industry groups including the Book Industry Communication (BIC) board, BIC Green Supply Chain, the Publishers Association’s Sustainability Taskforce and Publishing Scotland’s Environment and Sustainability Group.
Sabah Khan, Publicity Director at Simon & Schuster UK (S&S)
Sabah has been a key supporter and driver of diversity and inclusion initiatives throughout her publishing career. She was a founding member of ELEVATE (HarperCollins’s employee-led network for Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff) and went on to chair the Diversity Council at S&S. She is S&S’s champion on the Publishers Association’s Inclusivity Action Plan and is one of S&S’s liaisons with the Black Writers Guild. She strongly believes in the value of mentorship and mentors several people in the publishing industry.
Sabah is a creative powerhouse – the publicity engine behind enormous campaigns including Colleen Hoover, Britney Spears and Michael Holding’s Why We Kneel How We Rise. She is particularly proud of leading campaigns that generate important conversations.
Dr Adya Misra, Associate Director, Research Integrity at Sage
Adya has made a significant impact on Sage’s research integrity work. She built and trained a global team responsible for upholding the quality and validity of Sage’s journals, which is vitally important in this age of mis- and disinformation. She has implemented robust policies and procedures for handling ethical issues including plagiarism, data fabrication, authorship disputes and conflicts of interest. Adya’s work strives to promote fair and transparent practices in scholarly publishing.
She has also contributed to important conversations on topics such as open science, peer review and research assessment. Beyond her work for Sage, Adya applies her extensive expertise as a thought-leader within the broader scholarly communications community.
Dr Zaahida Nabagereka, Senior Social Impact Manager, Penguin Random House UK
Zaahida has worked with the Runnymede Trust to build the Lit in Colour campaign, which aims to increase students’ access to more books by writers of colour, into the huge success that it is. Her passion and drive to dismantle barriers for future generations is something she brings to work every day.
The Lit in Colour campaign has grown exponentially since 2020 with Zaahida identifying and onboarding numerous industry partners. She has worked particularly closely with Pearson to incentivise schools to change the text they teach at GCSE or A Level to a book by a writer of colour through the ‘Lit in Colour Pioneers’ programme, reaching 10,000 students nationwide.
Emma Steel, Head of Imprint, Every Cherry at Sweet Cherry Publishing
After 17 years as a special education teacher, Emma was frustrated with the lack of resources available for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), finding herself rewriting curriculum books to ensure that her students could properly access and enjoy them.
Together, Emma and the team at Sweet Cherry created Every Cherry: a brand-new range of books that places accessibility at the forefront. All the carefully thought-through features of Every Cherry’s books were devised by Emma based on her experiences as a special education teacher. Now Head of Imprint at Every Cherry, Emma is changing the publishing landscape for the better, creating a much more accessible, inclusive and enjoyable reading experience for all.
Yanmin Zhuchen-Mander, Senior Marketing Manager, John Murray Press at Hachette UK
Yanmin is driven by improving the industry for everyone. She has served as co-chair of ELEVATE at HarperCollins and as the London Treasurer for the Society of Young Publishers. She is currently a member of JMP’s Mirror Board which offers staff the chance to propose and develop projects to meet business and industry needs with board support.
Yanmin is also Co-Director of non-profit platform The FLIP (Female Leadership in Publishing). She is particularly proud of The FLIP’s recent survey which was designed as a ‘temperature check’ of the industry. The survey provides data on often-discussed issues including the prevalence of imposter syndrome in the industry and the desire for more support for disabled and neurodivergent employees. She hopes that it will support important conversations and encourage positive change.