Christine Swedowsky, U.S. director of World Editions, has acquired the publisher from its previous owner, Libella Publishing Group, in a management buyout. With the completion of the deal, the publisher's Amsterdam and London offices will close.
Operating from New York, Swedowsky is in the process of hiring a group of freelancers to support a small full-time staff. For the next two years, Swedowsky plans to release six titles annually before increasing the press's output.
World Editions was founded in 2013 and expanded into the U.S. in 2018. It specializes in translated fiction by such internationally acclaimed authors as Maryse Condé, Amin Maalouf, Pilar Quintana, Jaap Robben, and Zhang Yueran. It has published two National Book Award finalists, two National Book Award–longlisted authors, and, most recently, the 2023 International Booker finalist The Gospel According to the New World, by Condé.
Swedowsky said that the U.S. branch of the publisher has published 62 books since its launch. The fall list will include titles by Samar Yazbke, Amin Maalouf, and Juli Zeh, whose About People was a #1 bestseller in Germany. Ingram will continue to distribute World Editions in the U.S.
“I would never have dreamed of owning a publishing house one day, and am deeply grateful to the two women who made this possible: Vera Michalski, director of Libella, for entrusting World Editions to me, and Judith Uyterlinde, former publishing director of World Editions, who has taught me most of what I know,” Swedowsky said in a statement.
