Canadian independent publisher House of Anansi has named Karen Brochu publisher at House of Anansi Press and Douglas Richmond editorial director. Both start in their new positions this month.
Brochu will be the third publisher at Anansi since the retirement of Sarah MacLachlan in June 2020. MacLachlan was succeeded by Bruce Walsh, who left the company in August 2021, and Leigh Nash, who left in March this year. Prior to being named publisher, Brochu served as v-p of sales and marketing for Anansi; Richmond was previously senior editor for the press.
"Karen is an invaluable member of our company, and I am delighted she will be moving into the role of publisher," Semareh Al-Hillal, president of House of Anansi Press and Groundwood Books, said in a statement. "She brings deep knowledge of the trade market in Canada and the U.S. and has a passion for publishing very good books and getting them into readers’ hands. Doug has over a decade of experience in acquiring and editing across many genres and instinctively considers the Anansi list as a whole. Karen and Doug are both outstanding ambassadors for Anansi, and their complementary areas of excellence usher in an exciting time for the company."
Concurrent with the news of Brochu's elevation, Nash announced she was launching a new publishing house, Assembly Press. She is partnering with publishing veteran Andrew Faulkner. Together, the duo previously ran Invisible Publishing, now run by Norm Nehmetallah, who took over after Nash left to run Anansi. Publishing veteran Debby de Groot will serve as Assembly publicist.
Assembly takes its name from school assemblies and aims to be "independent, inclusive, and incisive," the announcement stated. Its first list, which will include fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, will publish next year, with distribution by Publishers Group Canada.
