By Gabriela Kaczmarek, Rosie Luffingham, Tehreem Malhi and Molly Arabella Kirk
In this issue, we spoke with the wonderful Caroline Carpenter about her inspiring career at The Bookseller. Reflecting on her decade-long journey with the trade magazine, Caroline provided fascinating insights on its industry work, with a particular emphasis on the Young Adult Prize, which she has chaired. Caroline also discusses her involvement in The Bookseller’s special issues, including the County and Regional Focuses and her experience chairing the Children’s Illustrated Book of the Year category at The British Book Awards.
You have worked for The Bookseller for over ten years now, beginning as an Editorial Assistant and now working as a Children’s Editor and Deputy Features Editor. What an inspiring journey! Can you tell us about how your work at The Bookseller began and your journey with them?
I started out at The Bookseller as its first intern hired via inclusivity organisation Creative Access, following a previous job at a newspaper company and work experience placements at publishing houses. After a year supporting the news team as Editorial Assistant, I was kept on and promoted to Staff Writer. Shortly afterwards, I moved into the position of Web Editor, helping to run the company’s website, social media and email communications. A few years later, I moved departments again, becoming Deputy Features Editor. As well as contributing to the magazine’s general features content, I lead on several special issues including some of our Regional and Country Focuses.
Ever since joining The Bookseller, I found myself gravitating towards children’s and young adult publishing and a couple of years ago, I took on the Children’s Editor title alongside my features role. I now lead our coverage of the children’s book trade, chair the Children’s Illustrated Book of the Year category at The British Book Awards and help with the programme for the company’s annual Children’s Conference.
Alongside your role as a Children’s Editor, you have also chaired The Bookseller’s Young Adult Book Prize since 2017. Can you describe any memorable moments or standout books from your time chairing?
I’ve been involved with the prize since it launched, initially running the social media content for it and eventually overseeing the whole prize programme, so it’s really hard to pick just a few highlights! I have to mention the prize’s first winner, Louise O’Neill’s feminist dystopia, Only Ever Yours. Brilliant, brave and bold, it really helped us kick things off with a bang, perfectly encapsulating everything that we wanted the prize to represent. And I’d honestly recommend all the books shortlisted for the prize over the years. They’re a great snapshot of the amazing YA (Young Adult) literature coming out of the UK and Ireland.
I’m really proud of some of the impressive judges who’ve come on board, including Akala, Laura Bates and former winner Alice Oseman (who judged this year’s prize, which was ably chaired by my colleague Katie Fraser while I was on maternity leave). We’ve also taken part in some brilliant events, with the winner’s announcements taking place at Hay Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival. The absolute best thing about working on the prize has been seeing the impact on authors and readers. Knowing that it has catapulted someone’s career, or helped a teenager discover their favourite book makes all the hard work worthwhile. Possibly the second-best thing was when the prize was mentioned as a round on University Challenge last year – that was a real “pinch me” moment!
What has been your most rewarding experience while working on special projects like The Bookseller's Country and Regional Focuses?
What I love about working on The Bookseller’s Country and Regional Focuses is that I get to explore some of the exciting things going on in the book world across the UK which don’t get much attention. The industry is often very London-centric and these issues are a great opportunity to shine a light on the wonderful work happening in other areas. I love amplifying these stories and sometimes breaking them – for example, running an exclusive announcement about the launch of Cyhoeddi Cymru/Publishing Wales a couple of years ago.
Unfortunately my work on these issues coincided with the start of the pandemic and since then, it’s become much more efficient to meet with people virtually, which means I miss out on the chance to visit the places I’m writing about. However, I have been lucky to travel a bit through my job. Every year I get to go to Italy for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and to Edinburgh International Book Festival, where the YA Book Prize ceremony takes place. Previously, I’ve got to go on a few press trips, including a week-long stay in Indonesia when the country was the Market Focus at London Book Fair 2019.
Are there any experiences or opportunities at The Bookseller and in the wider industry that you believe would benefit those aspiring to follow a similar career path in newspaper editorial?
The Bookseller is a fairly small team so there aren’t often many opportunities to work at the company itself. However, it’s a really useful place to find opportunities within the book trade as we have a brilliant jobs board on our website and in the magazine. And, of course, it’s the best place to keep up-to-date with all the industry news to help you prepare for any interviews!
It’s also worth checking out Creative Access if you’re from a community that's underrepresented in the creative industries. As well as sharing job opportunities, it runs amazing mentorship and development programmes. Lots of publishers also run internship schemes, so it’s worth checking out their websites for more information about how to apply.
Comments