Cywinski and Harpley promoted to non-fiction publishers at Pan
Sara Cywinski and Mike Harpley have both been promoted to the roles of publisher, non-fiction at Pan
Sara Cywinski and Mike Harpley have both been promoted to the roles of publisher, non-fiction at Pan, as part of ambitious plans to drive further growth at the imprint.
Cywinski will lead Pan’s commercial non-fiction publishing as she prepares to publish Rick Astley’s autobiography Never and Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir co-written with daughter Riley Keogh From Here to the Great Unknown later this year. She is also publishing Dan Biggar’s memoir The Biggar Picture this Autumn and, author of The Book Thief, Markus Zusak’s first non-fiction book in 2025.
Harpley will lead the narrative non-fiction list, including the dedicated business imprint, Macmillan Business, which he set up last year. He will also continue to commission broadly across non-fiction, including politics and sport, with recent Sunday Times bestsellers including Kammy by Chris Kamara and Failed State by Sam Freedman. This Autumn Harpley will publish Angela Merkel’s memoir, Alice Loxton’s 18. Later titles will include books from former prime minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and former Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Ingrid Connell, publishing director, will report into Cywinski, alongside commissioning editor, Lydia Ramah. Ause Abdelhaq, editor, will continue to report into Harpley, alongside Ribh Brownlee, assistant editor. Jiri Greco, editorial assistant, will continue to assist across Pan Non-Fiction and Macmillan Business.
Pan grew 19% through TCM last year and has seen continued success in 2024, with 14 appearances in The Sunday Times bestseller non-fiction charts alone, including two number ones: Charles III by Robert Hardman and D Day: The Unheard Tapes by Geraint Jones.
Prior to Pan Macmillan, Cywinski spent nine years at Ebury, part of Penguin Random House, rising from commissioning editor to publishing director. Harpley also joined Pan Macmillan in 2022 after six years at Atlantic Books as publishing director, non-fiction.
Pan m.d. Lucy Hale said: ‘I’m thrilled to announce these well-deserved promotions that will help us to grow and expand Pan’s non-fiction publishing even further. Mike and Sara are fantastic publishers and true experts in their areas. I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved at Pan over the past couple of years and I cannot imagine a stronger team of people to lead our Non-Fiction publishing into the future.’
The promotions will take place with immediate effect.