Jordan Pavlin has been named senior v-p and editor-in-chief at Knopf. The appointment, which is effective immediately, fills a vacancy which has been open since December 2019 when Sonny Mehta, the vaunted Random House imprint's longtime editor-in-chief, died. Pavlin had worked with Mehta for 23 years.
Formerly senior v-p and editorial director at Knopf, Pavlin has edited such authors as Jenny Offill, Tommy Orange, Nathan Englander, and Karen Russell. She will continue to report to Reagan Arthur, executive v-p and publisher of Knopf, Pantheon, and Schocken. Other Knopf editors will also to continue to report to Arthur.
In making the announcement to the staff, Arthur called Pavlin "one of the most esteemed editors in publishing" whose "ability to identify the potential of a writer to deliver a transcendent work is nothing short of remarkable." Arthur also noted that Pavlin has been a notable "champion of young writers throughout her career."
Pavlin's first job in publishing was at St. Martin's Press, in 1990. From there she went to Little, Brown, before joining Knopf in 1996.
