Henderson to join S&S

Affirm Press publisher Fiona Henderson has been appointed publishing director of Simon & Schuster, effective from 3 April.

Henderson has worked in publishing for more than 20 years, including senior roles at Random House, HarperCollins and Hachette.

Henderson said in a statement that she was ‘thrilled to have the opportunity to build a new list alongside such a passionate and talented team of people’. ‘I am also mightily impressed with the way that the Simon & Schuster teams in Australia, the UK and the US work so well together, sharing information and opportunities to make the most of being a global company but at the end of the day helping publishers to get the books we love so we can do what we do best.’

Simon & Schuster Australia’s managing director Dan Ruffino said Henderson was joining the business during a period of significant growth. ‘We are an ambitious team who have our sights set on growing our local list significantly over the coming years and Fiona is exactly the person we need to help get us there.’

Afffirm Press publishing director Martin Hughes said Henderson has made a ‘terrific contribution to Affirm Press and we are sorry to see her leave’. ‘Fiona has worked with many publishers during her stellar career, and we are grateful for the tremendous insight she has provided in nearly two years with Affirm Press.’

Henderson will be finishing up at Affirm on 17 March. Hughes said he will continue to lead book acquisitions following Henderson’s departure and will be ‘bolstering’ the publisher’s editorial team in the coming months.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Henderson joined Affirm Press in 2015.

Category: Local news