Overview

I am an experienced and versatile editor who, after eight years working in-house at Penguin Books, Hamish Hamilton and Viking, began on a long freelance career, which has involved taking on a wide range of editorial and writing assignments. The authors with whom I have worked over the years include Peter Ackroyd, Ronan Bennett, Mavis Cheek, Isabel Colegate, Geoff Dyer, John Fowles, Esther Freud, Philip Hensher and Hugo Vickers.

In 2001 I was a co-writer of Boo Hoo: A Story from Concept to Tragedy, Ernst Malmsten’s account of the pioneering internet retailer, which was nominated for a W.H. Smith prize.

Between 2002 and 2005, I worked as the editor of two volumes of journals by the novelist John Fowles, which involved not only distilling 400,000 words from an original diary of more than 2 million words but also writing an introduction and notes for each volume.

As an author, I have written several highly praised books of film biography and history, including In Search of The Third Man (1999), Korda: Britain's Only Movie Mogul (2002) and The Faber Book of French Cinema (2011). Most recently (2020) I wrote and oversaw the editing, design and production of Making Hollywood Happen, a book that celebrates the seventieth anniversary of the completion guarantor Film Finances.

In addition to my experience as an editor and writer in general publishing, I have a doctorate from the University of London and have published many articles in academic journals.

Services

Developmental Editing

Copy Editing

Editorial Assessment

Languages

English (UK)

English (US)

Non-Fiction

Biographies & Memoirs

Entertainment

Humanities & Social Sciences

Fiction

Classics

Contemporary Fiction

Writer and Editor

Self-employed

October, 1996 – Present (over 24 years)

My first book, The Finest Years: British Cinema of the 1940s, was published in 1998. Since then I have continued to work as a freelance writer and editor. I have also lectured on film history at Queen Mary, University of London and I am historical consultant to the completion guarantor Film Finances.

Deputy Managing Editor

Hamish Hamilton

April, 1991 – October, 1996 (over 5 years)

Copy-editing and developmental editing as well as assisting the managing editor in the supervision of Hamish Hamilton's team of freelance editors and proofreaders.

Copy-editor

Penguin Books

October, 1988 – March, 1991 (over 2 years)

Copy-editing Penguin Classics translations and paperback originals as well as titles for the Penguin hardback imprints Viking, Allen Lane and Michael Joseph.