ALIEN OVERLORD - Key Persons
Adrian Soar - Chief Commercial Officer
Adrian Soar has 40 years' publishing experience. He started his career selling books for Macmillan, built publishing businesses around the world from Armenia to India to Zimbabwe, and ran all of Macmillan's book publishing businesses. He was president of the Publishers Association. Now he runs finance, IT and contracts for Nosy Crow, and is company cook (but usually leaves cake to others).
Alba joined the Rights team at Nosy Crow this May while she finishes her Publishing MA from LCC (UAL). Previously she studied English Literature and Creative Writing at Warwick, an interesting choice for a Spaniard. She's lived in the UK, the US, and Spain. She loves boxing, poetry, and her Notion pages.
Whilst studying Human Geography at University Alex worked as a children's bookseller in Waterstones and indulged her passion for children's books. After graduating Alex joined Templar Publishing with their wonderful list of novelty and picture books to work in both Operations and Rights. She then moved to Hot Key Books to sell rights in in children's and YA fiction around the world. Alex is now super excited to be working at Nosy Crow and their exciting list!
Job Titles:
- Senior Commissioning Editor, Picture Books
Job Titles:
- Area Sales Manager - North of England & Scotland
After completing an MA in Publishing in 2017, Alice worked at Thames & Hudson in the UK Sales team. Working with a variety of customers and genres, she found a passion for children's books, believing books are a vital tool for children's learning and development.
Alice has moved back to the North and is thrilled to be working with so many beautiful books. She is a Community Ambassador, North for Book Aid International and a Mentor on the SYP mentorship scheme.
Job Titles:
- Marketing Manager, Nosy Crow Inc
Ally started her publishing career over a decade ago and gained marketing experience in textbook, magazine, and children's publishing. Previously, she worked at Candlewick Press as the Consumer & Educational Outreach Manager, where she forged partnerships, helped produce the corporate podcast, and co-managed social media. Ally holds an MFA in writing for children from Simmons University, and her debut middle grade novel is scheduled to publish in 2024. She has a deep love of Halloween and all things spooky. She's thrilled to continue her publishing career with Nosy Crow Inc and looks forward to getting readers excited about our wonderful children's books!
After graduating with a Bachelor Honours Degree in Economics and Business, Anastasia moved from Russia to the UK. During her time in London, she decided to study accountancy, to complement her Degree in Economics and Business. She joined Nosy Crow in April 2018, and is looking forward to working as part of such a creative, fun and motivated team.
Anna loves books and has been making them for 20 years. After DK, Harper Collins, Marshall Editions, Quarto and Lawrence King, she's finally landed at Nosy Crow where she is excited to bring her passion for children's stories (she's a member of SCBWI) and her production experience to this vibrant and fiercely independent company.
Job Titles:
- Marketing Associate, Nosy Crow Inc
Avery joined Nosy Crow in October 2022 after working on the editorial teams at Rubin Pfeffer Content Literary Agency and Pearson Education and most recently, with the sales and marketing team at Beacon Press. She previously studied creative writing at Hamilton College in upstate New York and worked with local schools and libraries to coordinate youth reading programs, particularly with the exceptional staff of the Kirkland Town Library.
Avery is thrilled to be a part of Nosy Crow Inc and to help connect our books with American teachers, librarians, booksellers, caregivers, and every reader she can.
Becks Healey graduated with honours in Theatre Design from Rose Bruford College in 2014 and has remained passionate about visual storytelling ever since. Having worked as a bookseller and then a freelance graphic designer/illustrator, they love beautifully illustrated children's books and graphic novels. Healey has created marketing content and merchandise for a variety of clients in the theatre and music industry and is thrilled to be taking the leap into the publishing world. When they're not busy designing away, you will find them sketching cartoons and making noisy pop music.
After graduating from the University of Essex with a BA in Philosophy and Politics Ben taught English as a foreign language in Italy and Vietnam. Upon his return to the UK in 2017 Ben started at Nosy Crow as a Production Assistant. He is delighted to be managing a diverse and innovative list.
Job Titles:
- UK and Export Sales and Marketing Director
Catherine Stokes has 22 years of experience in publishing sales, marketing and bookselling. She started her career as a graduate trainee at WHS mith, before moving to Oxford University Press where she became Head of Marketing for Oxford Children's Books. Whilst travelling Europe and living in Italy and Holland, she worked as a Children's Books Sales and Marketing Consultant and on her return to the UK became Sales and Marketing Director at Bounce. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and son, two rabbits, and a foster Labrador.
Charlotte, originally from Edinburgh, studied History at the University of St. Andrews and has loved reading since she was young. While she has always secretly wanted to work in publishing, she was side-tracked by a few years working for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and other international arts festivals. But the call of the books was too strong and in 2021 she decided to do a Publishing MSc at Edinburgh Napier University. After accidentally studying children's publishing for most of her MSc, she jumped at the chance to join Nosy Crow and work on such exciting and inspiring children's books.
Damon was born into bookselling, having toured the North of England with his father and a book sample bag from the tender age of five. Since then he has worked in a bookshop in New Zealand, travelled the length of that country as a Regional Sales Rep, bargained, wrangled and hammered out deals as a National Key Account Manager before travelling halfway round the world in order to sell books to New Zealand, Australia, India, Canada and South Africa as an International Sales Manager. He's covered a lot of miles in that time and is excited to be selling to even more markets now, because working with creative people, sharing the gift of storytelling and putting great books into the hands of readers all around the world, is the best job possible.
Job Titles:
- Head of Design ( Fiction )
Job Titles:
- Editorial Director at Large
Elizabeth has been working in children's publishing for 15 years. After studying English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Warwick, she started her career at A&C Black on the children's non-fiction list, and has also worked for Bloomsbury, Laurence King and Canelo. She loves learning new facts and exploring new ways to bring them to readers, and she is delighted to now be doing this with the amazing team at Nosy Crow.
When she's not wrangling planets and dinosaurs, she is also an author and yoga teacher.
Ellie joined the Nosy Crow sales team in March, after following an unconventional journey into publishing; her BSc in Biology at Durham University led to a MSc in Aquatic Conservation, Ecology, and Restoration at UCL, with a year in between teaching at a primary school. After her Masters, Ellie worked as a bookseller at Foyles and realised that children's books was the place for her. She is excited to follow her passions and help bring lots of new and exciting titles into the world of children's literature.
Emma graduated from Northumbria University back in 2013. A few months later she left her small home town in the midlands and headed for the bright lights of London to start her career in publishing at Dorling Kindersley. After 6 years of developing her love of children's books (alongside an increasingly unhealthy obsession with fancy dress), she flew the nest and landed here at Nosy Crow.
Apart from being extremely excited that she can now be referred to as a crow (just like John Snow!), Emma is absolutely thrilled to be part of such a creative team, collaborating with inspirational illustrators to create the beautiful books that Nosy Crow are so well-known for.
Erin entered the world of publishing when she joined the Crow's Nest in 2017 and she hasn't looked back since. Erin really enjoys working with people from all around the world, relishing the opportunity to visit customers on their home turf and getting Nosy Crow's gorgeous books into the hands of as many children as possible. Erin has been learning both French and Spanish during her time at Nosy Crow and loves putting these languages into practise at every available opportunity.
Erin's territories include: Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Nordic territories, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the USA.
After graduating from Roehampton University, Felicity joined a national charity for her first HR role, while completing a Masters in Human Resources Management. She later moved to an IT reseller and has also worked in fashion retail. More recently, Felicity had an operational role for a small charity. She is very excited to be back in a full HR role with such a dynamic, creative organisation and to be surrounded by books all day.
After studying English at the University of Cambridge Fiona worked as a journalist and arts project manager before joining Macmillan Children's Books in 2013, where she project managed the Macmillan Prize for Illustration and worked on commercial picture books. She couldn't be happier to swoop into the Crow's Nest each morning to work on their fabulous fiction list.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Editor ( Fiction )
After graduating with a BA in History and Sociology from the University of Warwick, Halimah took their first plunge into publishing as part of Penguin Random House's The Scheme shortly followed by almost two years at Hachette Children's, which cemented their love for children's publishing. Halimah joined Nosy Crow in March 2021 and they are excited to be working on such brilliant books!
After graduating with an MA in History from the University of Nottingham, Hannah joined the beauty and wellness industry, working in both Digital Marketing and Sales. After four years, though, she decided to follow her dream to work in children's publishing and jumped at the opportunity to join Nosy Crow's Marketing team. Hannah is delighted that she gets to spend her time working with such a wonderful range of books that entertain and educate children.
Job Titles:
- Senior Publicity Executive
After graduating with an English degree from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, Hannah moved back to the UK in 2017. Starting out in luxury travel PR, her passion for books eventually led her to Abrams & Chronicle Books where she was first able to work on the children's books she's always loved. Hannah joined Nosy Crow in March 2021. A passionate supporter of inclusivity in publishing, she's excited to continue to champion diverse voices and to help ensure that all children can see themselves reflected in the books they read.
After graduating with a degree in English in 2010, Hester's love of books led her to her first publishing job at distributor Turnaround. Since then, Hester has worked in marketing at Tate Publishing and Icon Books as well as spending a very chilly year working and travelling in Canada.
Hester enjoys the creativity and variety that a marketing role has to offer and was delighted to join Nosy Crow in December 2016.
Job Titles:
- Head of Design - Non - Fiction
Holly joined Nosy Crow in October 2015, having worked in children's publishing for 6 years. She graduated from University of the Arts in London and was lucky enough to be taken on as a Junior Designer at Priddy Books. After working her way up as a designer there, she moved to Egmont after 3 years to head up their pre-school list and it was there that she caught the bug for creating beautiful illustrated children's books. Although she has illustrated lots of books herself, she particularly enjoys commissioning others to bring her ideas to life. Working at Nosy Crow is a bit of a dream come true for Holly, and she loves being part of such a creative and talented team.
Imogen Blundell has worked in publishing since 2004. More impressively, she has worked with Kate for all of that time. She runs Nosy Crow's book production and operations. She does lots of other stuff too… Though she's tried other businesses, but she finds the challenges of organising publishers particularly fulfilling.
Job Titles:
- Editorial Assistant ( Non - Fiction, Novelty and Pre - School )
Job Titles:
- President - Nosy Crow Inc
- Senior Production Controller
John joined in May 2022 to help create the new Crow's Nest in North America. He began his career in publishing as an editorial and marketing assistant before moving over to the sales side of the business where he worked in various roles over the past 25 years. After stints at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Candlewick Press, where he was most recently senior vice president of sales, he is thrilled to head up Nosy Crow Inc and to establish a creatively distinct and commercially powerful list, drawing from the amazing creative teams in the UK and eventually from a diverse array of talent from North America and beyond.
John cares deeply about helping children become lifelong readers and is committed to publishing books that kids want to stay up late reading. He lives in the Boston, Massachusetts area with his wife, two kids, a cat and a dog, and loves to ride his bike for pleasure and to commute to work.
Job Titles:
- Marketing Design Assistant
Job Titles:
- Senior Commissioning Editor - Preschool and Licensing
Job Titles:
- Publishing Director, Fiction
Job Titles:
- Digital Marketing Executive
Job Titles:
- Editor ( Non - Fiction and Activity )
Job Titles:
- Senior Production Manager
Job Titles:
- Digital Marketing Executive
Job Titles:
- Publishing Director, Picture Books
Job Titles:
- Head of Design - Picture Books
Job Titles:
- Home and Export Sales Assistant
Job Titles:
- Senior Editor, Picture Books
Job Titles:
- Online Key Account Manager
Job Titles:
- Publishing Director for Non - Fiction, Preschool and Activity
Job Titles:
- Assistant Editor, Picture Books
Job Titles:
- Editorial Director - Preschool
Job Titles:
- Digital Marketing Manager
Job Titles:
- Art Director - Pre - School