People of Publishing

Delayna Spencer, Senior Commissioning Editor at SAGE Publishing

Delayna stands out as a future leader and has been recognized for her work which includes driving positive change at SAGE by starting a BAME (now Global Majority) group and an LGBTQIA+ group with colleagues.  

In 2022 she launched the Social Science for Social Justice series, which provides a platform for academics, journalists, and activists of colour to respond to today’s pressing social issues. She has highlighted the need for academic publishing to train staff better on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), to think creatively of ways to improve representation at all levels within the business, and to apply a DEI lens to editorial work.

Eishar Brar, Editorial Director at Knights Of

Eishar’s dedication to author care is unmatched, with all parts of the editorial process done with both the author and their audience in mind. Her commitment to providing safe spaces for communities informs both her creative and strategic decisions.

Her devotion to publishing inclusive stories is clear, most notably including A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll. She has shown that publishing underrepresented writers and inclusive books can and should be commercially successful. The list and spaces she has helped build celebrate author and illustrator voices, and the children who have long been wanting to see themselves in the stories they read.

Eishar also mentors individuals looking to get into the industry and junior members of staff.

Kim Eggleton, Head of Research Integrity and Peer Review at IOP Publishing

Kim is a leading voice in ethical and sustainable research practices and the shift to a more inclusive research environment. She was the driving force behind the step for IOPP to offer double-anonymous peer review across its entire journal portfolio – a first in the physical sciences.

In delivering IOP Publishing’s name-change policy, she worked in close collaboration with the community. In many cases, particularly for trans and non-binary authors, changing names needs to be approached with discretion and sensitivity. Kim took the time to understand researcher experiences, building their feedback into her approach.

Her dedication to cracking down on research misconduct has led to meaningful change, and she is an advocate for openness and transparency in the scientific record. She is a member of several relevant industry committees and initiatives.

Maria Garbutt Lucero, Publicity Director at Hodder & Stoughton

Maria is a multi-award-winning publicist at Hodder & Stoughton, where she has delivered outstanding campaigns for Rob Delaney and East Side Voices.

In addition to her day job, she co-founded the ESEA (East & Southeast Asian) Publishing Network with Joanna Lee in 2022 and they launched ESEA Lit Fest, the UK’s first East and Southeast Asian literary festival, in partnership with Foyles.

In her previous roles, she worked on Normal People by Sally Rooney and Milkman by Anna Burns, and has worked with Zadie Smith, Irvine Welsh and Yuval Noah Harari.

Peta Nightingale, Contracts, Rights and Translations Director at Bookouture

Peta joined Bookouture in 2017 in a newly created role of Head of Talent, and has most recently been promoted to Contracts, Rights and Translations Director.

Peta has led the establishment and successful growth of Bookouture Deutschland, translating and publishing directly into the German digital market. She has been a part of the Agewise committee for several years and has been a co-chair since 2022. Within Hachette, Peta has been influential in commissioning Nielsen to provide details understanding the reading and buying habits of those who are 45+.  

Rachel Martin, Global Director Sustainability at Elsevier

Rachel is driving transformational change in sustainability, with a focus on climate action at Elsevier. She is committed to industry wide action and is part of several industry sustainability committees.

Rachel was part of the team that launched the UN Sustainable Development Goals Publishers Compact, which aims to inspire action among publishers to accelerate progress in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. She has been integral to the new STM SDG Roadmap which provides a guide to embedding sustainability for all publishers.

She is the co-founder of the Publishing 2030 Accelerator, and in 2019 launched the UN SDG Book Club. She also led on the creation of the 2023 London Book Fair Sustainability Lounge.

Sabby Kaur Jivanji, Senior Product Manager at SAGE Publishing

Sabby joined the Product Innovation team at Sage in 2021 to work on Sage’s flagship academic library product line, Sage Research Methods, which was heading into a massive overhaul. Sabby excelled and following a tremendously successful launch, Sage Research Methods won the Best Publisher User Experience (UX) Award 2023.

She is the co-lead of the Women in Technology group; an employee-led initiative with the purpose of creating an inclusive community, to challenge gender imbalance through a lens of intersectionality, discuss opportunities to support diverse voices in the field or those keen to join, and inspire colleagues to recruit and retain more diversity into technology roles.

Yassine Belkacemi, Editorial Director at John Murray and Baskerville

After joining John Murray Press as a Creative Access intern in 2014, Yassine spent almost ten years as a publicist in the communications team of JMP, being promoted to the role of Publicity Director of JMP in 2019. In January 2023, he was promoted to Editorial Director of John Murray and Baskerville.

During his time at JMP, Yassine has served on the Society of Young Publishers committee and as deputy chair of the Publishers Publicity Circle. At Hachette, he has been part of Changing the Story through sitting on Hachette’s THRIVE committee and is a founding member of The Future Bookshelf project.