On September 23, Reagan Arthur will return to Hachette Book Group as senior VP and publisher, where she will lead an as-yet-unnamed boutique imprint at the Grand Central Publishing Group and edit major authors across HBG’s publishing divisions. She will report to David Shelley, CEO of Hachette Book Group and Hachette UK.
The news comes just shy of two months after Arthur, along with former Pantheon and Schocken SVP and publisher Lisa Lucas, was dismissed from Penguin Random House. Arthur had served as EVP and publisher of Knopf since early 2020, when she succeeded longtime Knopf editor-in-chief and KDPG chairman Sonny Mehta. She had previously been publisher of Little, Brown, now led by Sally Kim, since 2013, and had been with the imprint since 2001.
The new imprint will publish four to six titles per year by both literary and commercial authors, and Arthur will collaborate with executive publisher Federico Andornino at the HUK imprint Sceptre on copublishing select titles. In addition, Arthur will head up HBG and HUK’s Bridges program, which focuses on strengthening editorial relationships between Hachette’s recently-united U.S. and U.K. businesses in order to share more authors and publish them more robustly across multiple territories.
Reagan will lead Hachette’s Bridges efforts, focusing on strengthening editorial relationships between UK and US in order to share more authors and publish them robustly across territories.
In a statement, Shelley called Arthur “one of the legendary editors and publishers, as well as being one of the most fun and collegial people to work with,” adding: “I know that she will add tremendous value to the company in the years to come in terms of publishing some of our most well-loved authors; introducing new bestsellers to the company at her GCP imprint; and fostering even greater collaboration between Hachette US and UK in her role leading our Bridges program.”
At Little, Brown, Arthur edited and published books by such authors as Kate Atkinson, Eleanor Catton, Michael Connelly, Tina Fey, Joshua Ferris, Malcolm Gladwell, Elin Hilderbrand, Mark Hyman, James Patterson, George Pelecanos, and David Sedaris. At Knopf, Arthur oversaw the publication of Cormac McCarthy's last two novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Jayne Anne Phillips's Night Watch, among other books. She also edited such bestsellers as Bono's Surrender and Ian McEwan's Lessons.
“I couldn’t be happier to come back to the Hachette colleagues and authors I admire so deeply,” Arthur said in a statement. “And I’m honored to have the opportunity to launch a new imprint at GCP, where Ben Sevier is such an impressive publisher, and in collaboration with Fede Andornino, whose books have provided me with enormous pleasure.”
