PRH Australia announces new literary division; Ball promoted

Penguin Random House (PRH) Australia will establish a Penguin Random House Literary division in June.

The division, led by Ben Ball in the newly created role of publishing director of PRH Literary, will bring together the company’s literary imprints Hamish Hamilton, Vintage, Knopf, Viking and Penguin.

Ball was previously publishing director of Penguin Australia.

‘With an unrivalled heritage, Penguin Random House seeks to build on its traditions of literary excellence, with the ambition of being the great Australian literary house,’ said PRH group publishing director Nikki Christer in a statement. ‘To ensure that happens, so that our future is even brighter than our extraordinary past, to remain vibrant and innovative, to enable us to find and nurture the great writers of tomorrow, we are bringing together some of Australia’s most celebrated literary publishers and editors into a dedicated literary team.’

Ball will report to Christer and will lead a team that includes Vintage publisher Meredith Curnow, Viking commissioning editor Cate Blake, commissioning editor Lex Hirst and senior literary editor Meredith Rose.

Ball said: ‘It’s an enormous privilege to be leading these great literary imprints and editors into the next phase of their development. Each imprint has its own distinct voice, community and history, and each is now served by the biggest publishing house in the country. Combining this intimate editorial focus with unrivalled commercial heft enables us to help our authors produce their finest work, and for it to reach the most readers possible.’

Category: Local news