Emily Bell has been named editorial director at Astra House, effective April 15. She succeeds Alessandra Bastagli, who joined Simon & Schuster's One Signal Publishers imprint as v-p and publisher on February 26.
"My publishing North star has always been finding and fostering innovative and genuinely exciting writing and writers. In a few short years, Astra House has proven itself to be the spot to do just that," Bell said in a statement. "It’s a perfect editorial fit, and I feel very lucky to join such a talented and hardworking team."
Most recently, Bell served as the inaugural head of editorial at Zando until earlier this year, where founder and CEO Molly Stern now leads the editorial team on an interim basis. There, she acquired and edited books by such authors as Steve Almond, Alina Grabowski, Yeji Y. Ham, and Holly Wilson, and curated and published the Atlantic editions, a publishing partnership with the Atlantic magazine.
Bell began her publishing career at Riverhead Books before spending a decade at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where she last served as executive editor and director of FSG Originals. At FSG, she published work by such authors as Amelia Gray, Catherine Lacey, and Laura van den Berg, and edited books by Lucia Berlin, Emily Nemens, Brian Phillips, and Anna Wiener.
"I’ve long been an admirer of Emily’s terrific publications," Astra Publishing House COO and publisher Ben Schrank said in a statement. "She’s rightly well known for discovering the best new writers and we’re so glad that she’ll round out our team and help us continue to build a highly curated list here at Astra House."
