Katherine Cobbs, executive editor at Oxmoor House, editor of Martina’s Kitchen Mix (Oct.)
Select co-credits: Around the Table by Martina McBride (2014), Frank Stitt’s Southern Table by Frank Stitts (Artisan, 2004)
“Working with Stitts endures as a career highlight. Frank is so passionate about food—where it comes from and how it is treated—and he shares his thoughts and philosophies so eloquently. That made my job simple and the collaboration process a complete joy.”
Meredith Erickson, coauthor of Joe Beef (Knopf, Nov.)
Select co-credits: Claridge’s by Martyn Nail (Mitchell Beazley, 2017), Olympia Provisions by Elia Cairo (Ten Speed, 2015)
Solo project: Alpine Cooking (Ten Speed, 2019)
“Cookbooks, like restaurants, are a complete labor of love. They take a lot of time and
creativity and often work in opposition to our wallets and logic. But I love what I do and want to keep practicing this art for decades to come.”
James O. Fraioli, coauthor of Charred & Smoked by Derek Bugge (Skyhorse, Sept.)
Select co-credits: The Canon Cocktail Book by Jamie Boudreau (HMH, 2016), the James Beard Award–winning Culinary Birds by John Ash (Running Press, 2013)
“The home cook wants the chef next to them in the kitchen. That’s the moment where the chef is teaching them something. I always make sure that voice comes from the chef, and that’s the voice throughout the book.”
Rachel Holtzman, coauthor of Pull Up a Chair by Tiffani Thiessen (HMH, Oct.)
Select co-credits: Gather & Graze by Stephanie Izard (Clarkson Potter, 2018), Cheers to the Publican by Paul Kahan and Cosmo Goss (Lorena Jones, 2017)
“I like to ask authors, ‘How do you like to eat?’ Not just what but how. I think that is so illuminating. People love cookbooks, ultimately because they love getting an insight into this person’s life, into their home and their kitchen.”
Genevieve Ko, coauthor of Carla Hall’s Soul Food by Carla Hall (Harper Wave, Oct.)
Select co-credits: My Portugal by George Mendes (Abrams, 2014), Cooking with Love by Carla Hall (Atria, 2013)
Solo project: Better Baking (HMH/Martin, 2016)
“I’m a big believer in doing books that I think need to be out there, that should be part of the canon.”
Alison Roman, coauthor of A Very Serious Cookbook by Jeremiah Stone and Fábian von Hauske (Phaidon, Oct.)
Solo project: Dining In (Clarkson Potter, 2017)
On her one-off coauthoring gig: “I hadn’t thought of taking on any projects like this, but I genuinely like spending time with them, and I felt like I could really help them tell their story.”
Adeena Sussman, coauthor of Cravings: Hungry for More by Chrissy Teigen
Select co-credits: Cravings by Chrissy Teigen (Clarkson Potter, 2016), The Sprinkles Baking Book by Candace Nelson (Grand Central Life & Style, 2016)
Solo project: Sababa (Avery, 2019)
“My biggest desire is that every reader of a book I work on finds at least 10 recipes that become part of their cooking rotation. In this era of online recipe downloading, the fact that someone is willing to shell out cold, hard cash for an actual paper product is so incredibly flattering, and it better be worth their while. So I sweat the recipes, and have nightmares about missed ingredients or a bland potato until a book has been published and is out there in the world. Every. Single. Time.”
Ann Volkwein, coauthor of Ramen Otaku by Sarah Gavigan (Avery, Nov.)
Select co-credits: At Home with Natalie Morales by Natalie Morales (HMH, 2018), Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives by Guy Fieri (Morrow, 2008)
“One of my favorite parts of the collaboration is the immersive aspect of listening to the author speak, their vernacular and style. If a book feels authentic to them, then I’ve won; it’s the most important thing of all. I often describe it as more akin to fiction writing in the sense that you have to create the ‘character’ in your mind and channel that in a natural way from beginning to end. It’s back to my roots, as a writer first.”
Rachel Wharton, coauthor of Korean Home Cooking by Sohui Kim (Abrams, Oct.)
Select co-credits: F*ck, That’s Delicious by Action Bronson (Abrams, 2017), Back to the Kitchen by Freddie Prinze Jr. (Rodale, 2016), Di Palo’s Guide to the Essential Foods of Italy by Lou Di Palo (Ballantine, 2014)
Solo project: Edible Brooklyn: The Cookbook (Sterling Epicure, 2011)
“To me, book projects are like continuing education. In cooking technique or in food from parts of the world or city I don’t know or other subjects, too. My coauthors are my profs and my gurus. It’s pretty similar to what I like about reporting, but it’s a deeper dive.”
