Spiegel & Grau v-p and executive editor Chris Jackson has been named v-p, publisher and editor-in-chief of One World, a multicultural imprint originally founded in 1991.
One World will relaunch in fall 2017, with Jackson acquiring and editing fiction and nonfiction to be published in all formats. A spokesperson for Random House said more details on the size of One World's list, and forthcoming titles, will be announced at a later date. Jackson has been an executive editor at Speigel & Grau since the imprint was founded in 2006, and will report to Random House publisher Susan Kamil.
Jackson is being tapped to revitalize the pioneering imprint, which has not published any titles in recent years, and caps off an impressive past year in which Jackson published Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The book was awarded the 2015 National Book Award for nonfiction and became a national bestseller. Other notable authors acquired by Jackson include Edwidge Danticat, Aaron McGruder, Bryan Stevenson, Jill Leovy, Victor LaValle, and Jay Z.
One World, which was known for its focus on works by and about African Americans, was founded by Cheryl Woodroff, who left Random House in 2000. Over the years, One World has published such authors as Bebe Moore Campbell, Donald Bogle, Colin Channer, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., Nikki turner, and Connie Briscoe.
Jackson said the original mission of One World was to "explore ideas that help us re-imagine our politics, culture, and interior lives, without the filter of the dominant culture.” He continued: “That kind of vision remains a radical and vital one today. I’m thrilled we’ll be reanimating that idea and expanding its possibilities to capture the world in its fullness for this moment.”
RH president and publisher Gina Centrello called Jackson "a phenomenal editor and champion for his authors and his books," adding that RH is therefore "excited for him to lead his own publishing program under One World.”
