Mentors for SYP North’s Mentorship Schemes

Posted on September 22, 2020 in North

This week each SYP branch will announce their mentors for the upcoming mentorship scheme.

Today is the turn of the North team, who are running both the Into and Ahead streams. Into is dedicated to helping those looking to secure their first permanent role in publishing; Ahead is focused on helping those within publishing roles push on in their career.

The North Committee is covering the following areas of the UK and Ireland: Cheshire, Cleveland, Cumbria, Durham, Humberside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, South Yorkshire, Tyne & Wear, West Yorkshire

If you are based in the counties listed above, you could be paired with one of the mentors listed below. Applications open on Monday 28 September and close at 11:59pm on Thursday October 8. Details on how to apply will be available on the SYP homepage soon.

But for now, let us introduce you to our second batch of mentors taking part in the 2020 SYP UK & Ireland Mentorship Scheme…

SYP North Mentors

Hannah Bannister, Operations Manager, Peepal Tree Press

Hannah Bannister joined Peepal Tree Press in 1994 as an intern. She is responsible for the day-to-day running of the press, and heads up design, production, rights and sales.

Twitter: @peepaltreepress

Adam Lowe, Social Media and Publicity, Peepal Tree Press

Adam Lowe is a writer, publisher, lecturer and performer from Leeds, though he now lives in Manchester. Adam has mentored artists and arts professionals through Peepal Tree’s Inscribe programme and Eclipse’s Slate programme. He joined Peepal Tree Press in 2010 on an Arts Council-funded marketing internship and has been part of the family since.

Twitter: @peepaltreepress

Alison Welsby

As Editorial Director at Liverpool University Press, I commission books in history and art history, look after Historic England’s publishing programme, manage the excellent Editorial team at Liverpool University Press, and provide a publishing module for three undergraduates in partnership with the School of Arts at the University of Liverpool. Prior to joining Liverpool University Press in 2009, I was the history and art history commissioning editor at Manchester University Press.

Twitter: @Alison_Welsby

Rebecca Mortimer

Rebecca Mortimer is Marketing Campaigns and Communications Executive at Manchester University Press

Twitter: @beckmortimer

Melissa C. Fojt

Melissa has worked in publishing for 8 years and worked as a Publisher for 5 of those managing journal collections. Her role now is to guide the company on a Responsible Business Strategy which aligns to the publishing strategy.

Twitter: @MelissaCFojt

Tom Keane

Tom Keane is a Production Assistant for the HQ Fiction and Non-Fiction imprints of HarperCollins. He is the production lead for HQ Digital and M&B Trade. Enjoys coding ebooks and shouting about HQs incredible book proofs. Tom is originally from Yorkshire, but lives and works in London.

Twitter: @TomKeanePub

Emmanuel Omodeinde

Emmanuel is currently an Editorial Assistant at John Murray Press. He previously interned at the indie publisher, Peepal Tree Press, the world’s leading publisher of Carribean literature, and 4th Estate and William Collins, the literary and serious non-fiction division at HarperCollins.

Twitter: emansiji

Hazel Holmes

Hazel is a publisher at UCLan Publishing, an ex children’s book buyer, an Oxford Brookes graduate and a (The Bookseller) Rising Star 2020.

Twitter: @hazelhreads

Sade Omeje

Sade Omeje is an Editorial and publishers assistant at the 4th Estate and William Collins imprints at HarperCollins

Twitter: @SadeOmeje

Gemma Hemming

Gemma has worked in academic publishing for over 10 years. She has a PhD in Italian Studies from the University of Leeds and got into publishing by working on the peer-reviewed journal The Italianist as an Editorial Assistant. She’s currently a Senior Publisher at Emerald Publishing where she is responsible for a portfolio of journals in the Built Environment and Environmental Management subject areas. She previously worked at Maney Publishing and at the University of Leeds Library on their institutional repository.

Nichola Smalley

Nichola Smalley is Publicity Director at And Other Stories.

Twitter: @tallnicky

Emma Layfield

After twenty years of working with Hachette Children’s Group in London, Emma recently took on a new role as Picture Book Development Director, North, based in Manchester. She is responsible for networking, building relationships and looking for business opportunities in the north of England and Scotland, and focused on acquiring picture book talent living in the North West, North East, Yorkshire and Scotland to publish onto the HCG list.

Twitter: @emmalayfield2

Josh Moorby

“I studied my MA in Publishing at the University of Central Lancashire. During this time I also gained experience in the Manchester publishing industry by interning at Carcanet and gaining a part-time role in the production department at Manchester University Press. I then travelled to London for an internship with the Bloomsbury adult marketing and publicity departments as part of my degree placement, and then gained a full-time role at Bloomsbury in the sales team as this internship was completed.”

Twitter: @_Moorby_

Carla Witcombe

“I am currently a Senior Marketing Manager at Emerald Publishing looking specifically at strategic marketing plans for new services. My roles have encompassed the full marketing mix including campaigning, website development, social media, event planning, new product development and go to market planning. Outside of work I have a new found love for the outdoors courtesy of my 8 month old Cocker Spaniel Jasper although I am happiest curled up with a book (as you’d expect from any English Literature graduate).”

Becky Taylor

Becky has over 10 years’ experience in international subsidiary rights management across a variety of sectors: working in a publishing company (Penguin), a sub-agent (Andrew Nurnberg Associates) and in category management for Disney UK. Becky is currently working at Emerald Publishing.

Megan Jones

Born and raised in Liverpool, @_MegJonesy is at the start of her career in publishing. After completing her English with Creative Writing MA at the University of Aberdeen, Megan applied for the HarperCollins Graduate Scheme in 2019 and was selected to be one of two graduates from 1,700 applicants. During her time on the scheme she took on the role of Communications Assistant, but has since secured a permanent position in the company and is now Editorial Assistant for HarperNorth. Megan looks forward to being a part of the mission to increase regional diversity within the Publishing Industry.

Alice Corrigan

“I’ve worked in publishing for over 3 years and have worked my way up in UK Sales. I lived in London for 3 years and I’m now relocating back to the North which I’m so excited about. I can’t wait to work with SYP and all budding publishers!”

Twitter: @alicebcorrigan

Amy Musgrave