Katie Cunningham has joined Nosy Crow Inc. as publisher, as of March 18. Most recently she had been SVP, editorial, and associate publisher at Candlewick Press, before stepping away in late 2024. She joined Candlewick as an editorial assistant in 2003 and was named associate publisher in November 2023.
Cunningham is known for discovering and publishing a number of works by debut authors, including Jessica Love’s picture book Julián Is a Mermaid, which won the Stonewall Book Award; Rescue and Jessica by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes, which received the Schneider Family Book Award; and Gather, a debut novel by Kenneth M. Cadow, which was a National Book Award finalist and a Printz Award finalist, and won the 2024 Kirkus Prize.
Other authors and illustrators she has worked with are Matt Tavares, including on his his holiday bestseller Dasher and the graphic novel Hoops; poet Charles R. Smith Jr. on his Sports Royalty series; and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on his What Color Is My World: The Lost History of African-American Inventors, which won an NAACP Image Award.
Nosy Crow was founded by Kate Wilson in the U.K. in 2010, and launched a U.S. company in 2022 headed by president John Mendelson. Nosy Crow Inc., which published 30 titles in its first year, is on track to publish 100 titles in 2025. Cunningham joins editors Jennifer B. Greene and Allison Hunter Hill, assistant editor Sofie Jones, and Phoebe Kosman, who joined in January as head of marketing and communications.
In a statement, Mendelson said of Cunningham’s hire, “I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that Katie is a visionary leader and an extraordinary editorial talent. Even more than these attributes, she is a consummate teammate, and I am so excited to work alongside her as we continue to support our current publishing output and begin in earnest the process of originating books here in North America.”
In joining the company, Cunningham said, “As a longtime admirer of Nosy Crow, I was delighted, though not at all surprised, to see Nosy Crow take off on a running start in the U.S. under John Mendelson’s leadership. I’m thrilled to join Jennifer, Allison, Sofie, John, Kate, and all of the committed, creative, and hardworking team to create books that will speak to children read after read—because every child deserves a favorite book.”
