I joined Little, Brown in 2020, after thirty years of preparation at Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I am thrilled to be joining such a distinguished team within the Hachette Book Group. As an editor, I have worked with leading journalists, historians, and experts, including James Risen, Adam Hochschild, Mark Bittman, and Francis Collins, among many others. As Publisher, I now oversee the acquisition and publication of approximately 200 titles per year and am responsible for all aspects of publishing activities for Little, Brown and its imprints, including Mulholland; Little, Brown Spark; Voracious; Back Bay Books; and James Patterson’s Jimmy books for young readers.

As Vice President, Publisher for James Patterson, I lead the team that supports the bestselling author in the world. I have been with Little, Brown since 2004. I was new to publishing at the time—I had taken some side-trips into music journalism, teaching, maritime law, biochemistry, and political consulting—and am still grateful for being in and around books, and readers, every single day.

Judy arrived at Little, Brown more than twenty years ago from a career in the movie business, and since then, she’s never looked back. She has had the great privilege of editing some extraordinary books, all linked by one thing: a great voice. Some of the authors Judy has edited include Emma Donoghue, Maria Semple, Ayad Akhtar, Sarah Dunn, Chigozie Obioma, Lucy Tan, Elin Hilderbrand, and Edna O’Brien. Non-fiction titles Judy has edited include I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, Julie Powell’s Julie and Julia, and Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill and Dan Piepenbring. Forthcoming titles on Judy’s list are The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue, Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar, How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones, Katie Couric’s memoir, new novels from Joshua Ferris, Elizabeth Brundage, and Sarah Crossan, and a memoir by Kenyan human rights activist Nice Leng’ete.

I joined Little, Brown in 2005 after working at Atria Books, Broadway Books, and HarperCollins. I oversee publishing across the Little, Brown Spark list, and as an editor, I acquire within the categories of health, psychology/self-help, science, parenting, and reference. My books usually have a prescriptive element but they might also be narrative. Among the authors I’ve had the pleasure of working with are Mark Hyman, David Perlmutter, Andrew Weil, Amy Cuddy, Walter Mischel, Nicholas Christakis, Scott Jurek, Joel Fuhrman, William Sears, Sue Johnson, John Ratey, Arianna Huffington, Roy Peter Clark, Donald and Lillian Stokes, The Dalai Lama, Josh Axe, Nicholas Christakis, David Christian, Roy Peter Clark, Amy Cuddy, Jared Diamond, Joel Fuhrman, Lyanda Lynn Haupt, Arianna Huffington, Mark Hyman, Sue Johnson, Scott Jurek, Daniel Kahneman, Marie Kondo, Walter Mischel, Amy Myers, David Perlmutter, John Ratey, William Sears, Donald and Lillian Stokes, Cass Sunstein, Harriet Washington, and Andrew Weil.

 

I run Little, Brown’s imprint Voracious, where I publish books driven by appetite, passion, and curiosity across a range of interests and formats, from food and culture to storytelling, science, current events, and beyond. Most of those books have a visual component, and all of them are designed to make readers pick them up and immediately engage with them. I love working with authors to connect readers to their passions—whether that means politics, Instant Pots, or pop music. Happily, those collaborations have resulted in many acclaimed bestsellers, including Pete Souza’s Obama: An Intimate Portrait and Shade, Samin Nosrat and Wendy MacNaughton’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, and Sarah Knight’s No F*cks Given Guides, which have sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide. Other recent and upcoming authors include Accidentally Wes Anderson, Ansel Adams, Ayesha Curry, Epicurious, Vivian Howard, Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, Brad Leone, Riot Games, Julia Rothman, and Marcus Samuelsson.

 

I got my start as a reader of poetry manuscripts at Carnegie Mellon University Press while studying computer science, and joined Little, Brown in 2014 after working for Simon & Schuster and the Regan Arts imprint of Phaidon. I was a 2017 Publishers Weekly Star Watch honoree and the 2012 recipient of the Lawrence Peel Ashmead Editorial Award, and I have written about the book business for Poets & Writers. I pronounce my last name “Zur-ban” and you can follow me on Instagram @foreverbeard

I am an executive editor, as well as the editorial director of Mulholland Books, where I’ve edited novels like The Cuckoo’s Calling, by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling), JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst’s S., Lauren Beukes’s internationally bestselling The Shining Girls, as well national bestsellers like the debut Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, and crime fiction legends like Lawrence Block, Joe Lansdale, Charlie Huston, and Jim Thompson. At Little, Brown, I published the acclaimed literary novel Neverhome, as well as New York Times bestselling authors Michael Koryta and Dan Simmons. Prior to Little, Brown, I worked at Viking/Penguin and Picador, where I worked with authors and titles as diverse as Tana French, Stewart O’Nan, Ron Carlson, and Jasper Fforde. I have also edited a variety of nonfiction projects, such as The Boys In the Boat, Moby-Duck, and Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning.

I joined Little Brown Spark in 2022 after sixteen years at Penguin Random House. I acquire primarily idea- and research-driven books in business and economics and in the behavioral and social sciences. I am particularly drawn to expert voices with unique insights that help us better understand ourselves, each other, and the ways in which we live and work. Books that I am proud to have published include: Zero to One, Brave, Not Perfect, Essentialism, The Lonely Century, Humor, Seriously, Acting with Power, It’s About Damn Time, Makers and Takers, Insight, The Happiness Advantage, The Power of Broke, and The Start-up of You. While I did not technically attend Stanford University, I have worked with many authors who did..

I joined Little, Brown in 2022 to expand our list of serious nonfiction, primarily in the categories of history, biography, politics, and current affairs. I also have a soft spot for investigative journalism, narrative non-fiction, science, and true crime. Above all else, I love books with an edge and with a mission; I look for well-crafted stories braided with bold arguments and big ideas, and for authors with fresh perspectives and deep expertise in their subject areas. I am proud to have published New York Times bestselling authors such as Fiona Hill, Marie Yovanovitch, Peter Strzok, Neal Katyal, Avi Loeb, and Randall Munroe as well as luminaries such as Graham Allison, Lisa Feldman Barrett, and Jennifer Doudna. I also have had the pleasure of working with Adam Hochschild, James Risen, Wesley Lowery, Eric Lichtblau, Jacqueline Jones, and Jonathan Greenblatt. Before Little Brown, I spent sixteen years in the editorial departments of Mariner Books (formerly Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Basic Books, and Grove/Atlantic.

I joined Little, Brown in May 2022 with more than three decades of experience in publishing. Most recently, I served as the VP and Editorial Director of Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Throughout my career I have worked with many authors, including social critic bell hooks; Man-Booker Prize winner, Paul Beatty; NAACP Image Award winners, Dick Gregory and NASA’s Katherine Johnson; as well as the Zora Neale Hurston Trust and Shirley Chisholm’s estate. I have enthusiastically published bestselling authors Tupac Shakur, Zane, Cicely Tyson, Steve Harvey, Jacqueline Woodson, Michael Twitty, A.J. Verdelle, Jenifer Lewis, and attorney Ben Crump. I am interested in curating a list of literary fiction and serious narrative nonfiction by diverse voices that promote peace, love, and unity to elevate the human experience.

I am an Editor at Little, Brown acquiring literary nonfiction and literary fiction. I joined Little, Brown in 2014 after working as an assistant at a literary agency and a high school English teacher. I am passionate about exceptional writing, smart and strikingly original voices, and books that offer new insights and perspectives. My list includes Jenny Slate’s Little Weirds (a New York Times bestseller), Souvankham Thammavongsa’s How to Pronounce Knife, Malcolm Harris’ Kids These Days, Samantha Allen’s Real Queer America (a Lambda Literary Award Finalist), and Meaghan O’Connell’s And Now We Have Everything.

I am a Senior Editor at Little, Brown and Company, where I edit Rick Bass, David Bezmozgis, Tony Earley, Adam Haslett, Leslie Jamison, Rick Moody, Edith Pearlman, and Lauren Slater, among other writers. Prior to joining Little, Brown, I was an editor at Viking Penguin and before that the co-founder and editorial director of Lookout Books, where I published Edith Pearlman’s Binocular Vision, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and finalist for the National Book Award. While at Lookout Books I was also the editor of the literary journal Ecotone, where I worked with Annie Proulx, Jonathan Lethem, Denis Johnson, Ann Beattie, Charles Baxter, Terry Tempest Williams, and John Jeremiah Sullivan, among many others.

I'm a senior editor who started with Little, Brown Spark in its founding year, 2018. I’ve been a book editor for more than a decade and currently acquire a range of health, diet, wellness, self-help, and lifestyle books. I look for innovative, iconoclastic nonfiction that helps people improve their lives, both prescriptive and narrative. I previously worked at Rodale Books and Penguin Random House, acquiring primarily for the Avery and Gotham imprints, and in the editorial departments of Random House Publishing Group. I've worked with several New York Times bestselling authors like Dave Asprey, Dr. Bill Davis, Lewis Howes, Jillian Michaels, and Dr. Kellyann Petrucci, as well as celebrities like fashion designer Zac Posen, musician Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, and superstar fitness trainer Tracy Anderson. Prior to entering the publishing world, I obtained a master’s degree in public health with a focus on health policy from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

I joined Mulholland Books in February 2020, where I edit a suspenseful list of twisty thrillers, atmospheric mysteries, and character-driven crime novels. I’ve recently edited Denise Mina’s Confidence, Adrian McKinty’s The Island, and Kellye Garrett’s Like A Sister, and work with writers including Lauren Beukes, Elizabeth Hand, Allen Eskens, Kathleen Kent, and astronaut Chris Hadfield. I also edit a range of book club and women’s fiction for Little, Brown and Company, including debuts like Susanna Hoffs’ This Bird Has Flown, Annette Christie’s The Rehearsals, and Melissa Fu’s Peach Blossom Spring. I previously held positions at G. P. Putnam’s Sons, where I worked with writers Kate Weinberg, Helen Cooper, Camille Perri, Delia Owens, Jill Santopolo, and Lisa Gardner, among many, as well as at Viking/Penguin, Other Press, and at the Boulder Book Store and the Tattered Cover Book Stores.

I am an associate editor at Little, Brown Spark, where I work on a range of narrative and prescriptive nonfiction in categories including health, science, and psychology. I’m particularly drawn to books that make innovative ideas accessible, stories that find humanity in unusual places, and anything that makes the familiar seem strange. Highlights include You Can Stop Humming Now by Daniela Lamas, The Man Who Walked Backward by Ben Montgomery, and A Terrible Thing to Waste by Harriet Washington.