Working with Words-Exploring Careers in Publishing, Writing & Storytelling

A debut author has written a novel. What happens next? Returning for the second year, Working with Words brings three publishing professionals together to take you through the steps that take that novel from the author’s computer to the bookshop shelves.

You will hear from a literary agent, a commissioning editor and a communications consultant, who all work in different parts of the industry and are vital to this process.

Each speaker will share what they do, how they got there, and what their day-to-day looks like, using real-life industry examples. If you’re curious about a career in publishing, this will help you consider which role might be the best fit for you.

When: Monday 30 March 2026.

Time: 6.15pm - 9pm (6.15pm for a 6.30pm start, closing at 7.30pm with a reception until 9pm).

Where: BLOC Cinema, Queen Mary University of London.

To be chaired by Rachael Allen - Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing in the School of the Arts, Queen Mary University of London.

The speakers are:

Becky Thomas, Literary Agent and Founder at Lewinsohn Literary

Beginning her career in 2005 at Faber & Faber, Becky spent four years looking after the Estates and unagented poets in the Rights Department, where she learned that she had a knack and passion for negotiation and author care, and that would be the perfect combination to move into agenting. She became Contracts Director at Abner Stein before moving to WME, where she began to grow her list of authors. After the success of her first few deals, she joined Fox Mason in 2013. Johnson & Alcock acquired Fox Mason in 2015 and she spent six years there building a definitive and diverse list of talent.

Becky founded her own agency, Lewinsohn Literary, in 2021. She focuses on fiction that spans commercial to literary, memoir, pop culture, and narrative non-fiction. She is especially interested in finding under-represented voices. Her list includes Sunday Times Bestselling writers Hollie McNish, Carl Anka, Mhairi McFarlane, and Ted Kessler. She was named Literary Agent of the Year at the 2022 British Book Awards.

Dredhëza Maloku, Senior Commissioning Editor at Hutchinson Heinemann and #Merky Books

Dredhëza commissions literary and translated fiction for Hutchinson Heinemann and works with a small number of fiction writers in #Merky Books, the imprint launched by Stormzy and Penguin Random House UK in 2018.

At Daunt Books UK, Dredhëza commissioned literary and translated fiction alongside literary essays including the Booker-longlisted Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga, European fiction such as Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje, a collection of essays by Cynthia Zarin called In Italy and modern classics such as I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti. Her prior experience includes editorial at Vintage where she worked with literary and crime fiction, marketing at Transworld, part-time Waterstones bookseller, and freelance check listener for various audio productions.

Hope Ndaba, Creative Communications Consultant at Hope Ndaba

Hope is a freelance Creative Communications Consultant with over six years’ experience in marketing and publicity within publishing. She has delivered publicity campaigns for prestigious literary imprints such as Vintage and Picador, bold independent publishers like Bonnier Books UK and Profile Books, and award-winning books PR agency, FMcM.

She has launched debuts such as Julia May Jonas’s Vladimir and Maddie Mortimer’s Booker-longlisted Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies, and has run marketing campaigns for clients such as Thomas Heatherwick and prizes such as the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Outside of her day-to-day, she serves on the And Other Stories board of trustees, and recently participated on a panel for the PEN Translates Award.

The panel will be followed by a Q&A and reception, so you have a chance to ask the speakers questions about their experience and the career you’re most interested in.

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Host or Publisher School of the Arts