Jenny Chen
Executive editor
Ballantine Bantam Dell
For Jenny Chen, there was little doubt that a career in publishing was her destiny. A proud born-and-raised Queens native, she interned at Simon & Schuster and Penguin Publishing Group as an undergraduate and at literary agency Writers House and Crooked Lane Books after graduation. After a four-year stint at Crooked Lane, where she became an editor, Chen has found her home at Penguin Random House.
As executive editor for Ballantine Bantam Dell, Chen has an eye for all things mystery, suspense, and thriller. Her first acquisition there was the #1 bestseller All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers, published in August 2022, and subsequent acquisitions include You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard, Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood, The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa Matlin, and Jackal by Erin E. Adams—which PW named one of the best books of 2022.
“I’ve watched Jenny put her heart and soul into every part of the process, from the editing to the cover concept to being the quarterback of the marketing and publicity teams,” says Kara Cesare, v-p and editor-in-chief of Ballantine Bantam Dell, to whom Chen reports. Cesare calls Chen “an exceptionally talented editor who rolls up her sleeves and works tirelessly with her authors to get the best possible version of their stories on the page,” adding that “Jenny is the true definition of a star who is on the rise, and she is taking us and her authors with her.”
Chen continues to grow her list considerably—and she is passionate about her work, especially in terms of expanding the diversity of stories and characters she’s seeing cross her desk. “I am definitely interested in continuing the work I’ve been doing, and doing more, in terms of volume,” she tells PW. “I don’t think the work is ever done when it comes to diversifying the space. It’s about having variety, even within specific identities and diasporas and backgrounds. And I’m incredibly invested in growth and long-term author success.”
