Asia Harden
Assistant Editor
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers
In nominating her for Star Watch, Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers senior editor Grace Kendall and executive editor Janine O’Malley called Asia Harden “a star on the rise, a young editor with incredible taste and market acumen.” In her three years at FSG, Harden has become a highly respected and well-liked member of the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group editorial team.
A 2021 graduate of the University of Mississippi, Harden worked as a bookseller at Square Books Jr. in Oxford, Miss. After moving to New York City shortly after graduation, Harden was hired as an editorial assistant at FSG BYR and promoted to assistant editor a year ago. A specialist in middle grade and YA fiction, Harden has already acquired three books, two of them at auction: There’s Always Next Year by George M. Johnson and Leah Johnson, won by Harden and Kendall in a seven-figure deal, and Of Flame and Fury, to be copublished with Macmillan U.K., acquired in an international auction. Harden also works with author Ciera Burch, and has assisted in editing the work of Libba Bray, Hafsah Faizal, and Barbara O’Connor.
Noting that she grew up in a family of storytellers in a region renowned for its oral traditions, Harden says that as a child she “fell in love with reading and the world of stories,” even though, at some point, she realized the lack of characters that fully reflected her.
“There weren’t a lot of stories about the South, or a lot of Black female protagonists in YA or middle grade at the time,” she says. “Thankfully, there’s a lot more of that in the market right now, but I wanted to go into publishing because I wanted to help usher in more representation within children’s books. I am excited for the future of publishing, and for it to be a space that can be more inclusive. I’m just hoping we continue to allow diverse creators to share their stories.”
