Tom Dunne
Publisher   

I've been at St. Martin's since January 1971, so at one time or another, I have published almost every kind of book. The imprint was started in 1986, and is totally eclectic. Last year, the thirteen of us published roughly 200 titles, about 50/50 fiction/nonfiction. We continue to publish major Times bestsellers, but we are just as proud of the many other solid titles—including many first books—that we publish every year.

Over the years, many of the “biggest” authors I have personally edited have been British-particularly in fiction. These have included Rosamunde Pilcher, Frederick Forsyth, Wilbur Smith, and Michael Palin. But there have been plenty of American novelists as well, including the acclaimed Jincy Willett and Dan Brown (DIGITAL FORTRESS).

In nonfiction, I have a particular interest in politics, history, science, and current events, with bestsellers like the explosive THE POLITICIAN: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down by Andrew Young, THE WORLD WITHOUT US by Alan Weisman, and the powerful MORTAL SINS by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael D’Antonio.

In the near future, I am going to be publishing FIRE AND LIGHT: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World, a brilliant book on The Enlightenment and from one of our greatest historians, James MacGregor Burns, as well as the next three books in Peter Ackroyd’s celebrated five volume history of England. Also in the near-term pipeline is Yair Lapid’s BEING ISRAELI, a remarkable book by a writer turned politician who is now Israel’s Finance Minister. Then there’s J. Robert Moskin’s first-time-ever history of the U.S. Foreign Service, AMERICAN STATECRAFT: The Story of the U.S. Foreign Service… and these are but a few highlights. (We also have a collection of pictures of smiling dogs and a parody of Downton Abbey—so we try to have a sense of humor, too!)

The imprint continues to grow. The editors at Thomas Dunne Books have a wide range of tastes, backgrounds, and ages, and I believe that almost any book of commercial or literary merit will find a good home here.

Peter J. Wolverton
Associate Publisher, Executive Editor    

As Associate Publisher of Thomas Dunne Books I work to ensure that every book published by the imprint receives additional focus. During my twenty-one years in the business, I’ve published in almost every genre, but inevitably I find myself drawn to sports, commercial fiction (over the top action adventure thrillers for certain), mysteries, the early years of NASA and the Apollo missions, and books about the great outdoors. Recently, I’ve rediscovered an interest in epic fantasy and have begun to acquire books in this arena. Most of all, I think I look forward to the challenge of building established authors and launching the careers of new ones.

Over the years, I’ve published many New York Times bestsellers, including THE LAST CHILD, THIS BOOK IS FULL OF SPIDERS, TO TRY MEN’S SOULS by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, and a host of others. My upcoming list includes a fully revised and updated edition of the classic ARTISAN BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY, a new novel from New York Times bestselling author John Hart, a fantastic biography of Neil Armstrong from legendary NASA expert Jay Barbree, Atlantic Monthly contributor and ESPN.com commentator Gregg Easterbrook’s incisive take on football in America, THE KING OF SPORTS, and my personal favorite, an explosive thriller from up-and-coming talent Jeremy Robinson called XOM-B. 

Rob Kirkpatrick
Senior Editor    

I began my publishing career in 1998 in the midst of completing a doctoral program in English. In 2007, I joined Thomas Dunne Books, where I’ve built an eclectic list in sports, pop culture, history, biography/memoir, and other categories.  

My titles have included The Wrecking Crew by Kent Hartman, an Oregon Book Award winner and Los Angeles Times bestseller; Nathan Harden’s Sex and God at Yale, a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice selection and Audie Finalist; Alex Storozynski’s The Peasant Prince, winner of the Fraunces Tavern Book Award and the Knights Templar Military History Award; “LT” Menginie and Kerrie Droban’s Prodigal Father, Pagan Son, dual winner of USA Best Books Awards in the Memoir and True Crime categories; the Washington Post bestseller Test of Our Times by Tom Ridge; Neil Sagebiel’s The Longest Shot, a BN.com Top 100 book; the Amazon #1 football book When Saturday Mattered Most by Mark Beech; The Last Natural by Rob Miech, a 2012 CASEY Award finalist; Fletcher Wortmann’s memoir Triggered, a Booklist Top 10 Science and Health Book selection; and the cult baseball hit-turned-Wall Street Journal bestseller Big Hair and Plastic Grass by Dan Epstein. I also publish novels on a select basis, including Paradise Dogs from Man Martin, an Atlanta magazine Top Ten of the Year selection.  

I look forward to publishing the forthcoming memoirs from artist Ed Hardy, former MTV VJ Kennedy, and sports agent Leigh Steinberg, as well as Lamar Herrin’s very timely novel Fractures.  

Marcia Markland
Senior Editor    

Marcia’s taste is decidedly offbeat. In fiction she loves crime writing and has bought outstanding suspense from all over the world. Her writers include Arnaldur Indridason (Gold Dagger Award); Martin Fletcher (National Jewish Book Award); John Ajvide Lindqvist (Selma Lagerlof Prize); Yrsa Sigurdardottir (IBBY Award), Elizabeth Hand (Shirley Jackson Award, James Tiptree Award, among countless others); Ann Cleeves (Gold Dagger Award); Kjell Eriksson (Glass Key Award); Gin Malliet (Agatha Award); Daniel Friedman (Edgar and Thrillerfest Best First Novel Nomination), Nancy Turner (One Book, One Arizona), and many more exceptional talents. Many of their stories have been made into excellent films and television shows (Jar City, Let the Right One In, Let Me in, “Vera,” “Shetland”), and several others are in production with major studios.

In nonfiction, Marcia likes to work on unusual projects. She likes biographies of eccentric people (MAVERICK GENIUS: THE PIONEERING ODYSSEY OF FREEMAN DYSON, by Philip F. Schewe; and AMERICAN SAINT, by Joan Barthel, which is a bio of Elizabeth Seton, who founded the first American order of nuns.) Innovative ideas fascinate her, whether having to do with science (THE VERTICAL FARM, by Dickson Despommier) social action (ASCENT OF WOMEN, by Sally Armstrong); or the history of people, places, or things (TOMLINSON HILL by Christopher Tomlinson; PEPPER: A HISTORY OF THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL SPICE, by Marjorie Shaffer). She loves learning about animals, biology, and natural history.

One of Marcia’s favorite novels is a semi-serious disaster novel that is sometimes scary and sometimes hilarious. It’s called THE BLONDES and is written by Emily Schultz, hailed as “one of tomorrow’s Michael Ondaatjes and Alice Munros.” The premise is that a new epidemic is sweeping the globe. The symptoms resemble those of rabies. The hook: the disease is only carried by blonde women. What fun. Now you know Marcia’s idea of a good time. If you have a quirky and original manuscript, send it to her.

Brendan Deneen
Editor; Head of Macmillan Films   

I started my career over a decade ago working as an Assistant Literary Agent at the William Morris Agency and then segued into the book-to-film side of the business, working as a literary scout for legendary producers Scott Rudin and Bob & Harvey Weinstein. I also worked as a development and production executive during those six years and my primary focus was on the transition from book to screen. After that, I worked as a literary and film agent for a few years, representing writers for both publishing and film/TV deals, as well as developing and producing television and movies.  

I’ve been at Thomas Dunne Books for a few years now and am the editor of the New York Times-bestselling Walking Dead novels, and I also launched the company’s film/TV division, Macmillan Films, which has projects set up at MGM, Sony TV, Legendary Pictures, and The Weinstein Company, among others. I remain very interested in finding commercial material that cleverly combines a mainstream mindset with intelligent yet high concept stories. I'm actively looking for elevated genre material (horror, sci-fi and fantasy) as well as mainstream noir and pulpy literary fiction.   

Kathleen Gilligan
Senior Editor   

In the (nearly) nine years since joining Thomas Dunne books and St. Martin’s Press, I’ve worked with a savvy list of people whose sense of language, style and humor continues to inspire and impress me. Their range of fiction spans the gamut; from bookclub-beach-reads, to Giller-prize nominated story collections. Notably this year, I’ll debut author Ron Irwin’s Flat Water Tuesday, and see two New York Times-bestselling authors—Sharyn McCrumb and Julia Spencer-Fleming—publish the best books of their careers thus far (in my not-so-humble opinion). I recently acquired rights to Nickolas Butler’s already-buzzed-about debut, Shotgun Lovesongs, which will be published around the world in 2014. My list includes mysteries, historical novels and the occasional foodie memoir—but mostly I’m helpless against the voice of a quirky character, or insanely great writing that leaves me in tears (be it humor or poignancy-induced). I attended Smith College and later, the Columbia Publishing Course—currently I volunteer with Room to Write, teaching creative writing to seventh-graders. I avidly train for ultra-marathons; but mostly that’s to compensate for a recent obsession with chicken wings and wine (not always together). 

Peter Joseph
Senior Editor   

I acquire an eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction. My nonfiction list covers narrative nonfiction, memoirs, biographies, nature, science, history, politics, and humor. It’s quite a range, but a few examples include The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence, The Elements of F*cking Style by Chris Baker and Jacob Hansen, The Dogs of War by Lisa Rogak, and Gypsy Boy by Mikey Walsh. My fiction list includes literary, crime, and historical novels by authors such as Brian Doyle, Steve Hamilton, and Dewey Lambdin. With Anne Hillerman, I co-founded the annual Tony Hillerman Prize for debut mystery set in the Southwest.  

Toni Plummer
Editor    

My publishing career began at Thomas Dunne Books. Here I’ve been fortunate to work with a number of wonderful debut and established authors. My main interest is fiction: crime, commercial women’s, literary, historical, and multicultural. On the crime side, I work with a broad spectrum of mysteries and thrillers in the sub-genres of police procedural, private eye, cozy, historical, and international. I enjoy both light and funny novels as well as darker, more suspenseful ones, as long as the characters are memorable and there’s a strong story. My crime fiction authors include New York Times bestselling author of Slumdog Millionaire Vikas Swarup, Edgar finalist and Anthony Award winner Sophie Littlefield, CWA’s John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger finalist Ewart Hutton, and Susan Spann, author of CLAWS OF THE CAT: A Shinobi Mystery. I manage the writing competitions we run with Malice Domestic and the Private Eye Writers of America, through which I’ve discovered Linda Rodriguez, author of EVERY LAST SECRET and Alaric Hunt, author of CUTS THROUGH BONE. In other fiction, I’ve worked with California Book Award winner Michael Jaime-Becerra, PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship finalist Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, RITA Award winner Caridad Ferrer, and Jennifer Zobair, author of PAINTED HANDS, a remarkable debut about the love lives of American Muslim women in Boston. Captivating voices and vividly-realized settings are what get my attention. I’m also interested in narrative nonfiction.     

Richie Kern
Editor; Macmillan Films  

I started my career as an agent representing emerging playwrights in New York before moving to Hollywood to work in the movie business. As a book-to-film agent at Endeavor and subsequently WME, I represented life rights and numerous authors and titles from Young Adult to Horror & Suspense and everything in between. I optioned book titles to all the major film and television studios and worked closely with authors to develop highly commercial manuscripts which have film potential in addition to being fantastic novels. 

I am thrilled to be at Thomas Dunne Books and look forward to finding forward thinking authors interested in writing novels that break the traditional publishing walls and can be realized not only as great novels, but also on a larger scale as media properties -- the basis for everything from films and television shows to interactive games and consumer products. My taste is eclectic; when it comes to fiction, I am on the lookout for fresh comic voices, young adult coming of age stories and twisted thrillers. With my background representing real people, I also love a great true life story.

Anne Brewer
Associate Editor  

One of the best feelings in the world is to open a book for the first time and be immediately enthralled as the first few pages plunge you into an exciting new world, draw you in with an intriguing mystery, or introduce you to a compelling and original new voice—or, even better, all of the above. During the five years I’ve spent at St. Martin’s Press and Thomas Dunne Books, the pursuit of that electric feeling—when you know this book is one that will cause you to miss your subway stop because you can’t stop turning the pages—is one of my favorite parts of the job. Although the core of my list is crime fiction (my first acquistion, PURGATORY CHASM by Steve Ulfelder, was nominated for the Best First Mystery Edgar Award) during my time in the Flatiron Building I’ve acquired and worked on a wide range of commercial fiction and nonfiction, from MAD WOMEN, a frank and witty memoir about life as a woman in advertising during the Mad Men period by Jane Maas; to CAPTURING CAMELOT, a gorgeous photo book that captures the magic of the Kennedy presidency by Kitty Kelley; to PREP SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, the first in a juicy YA series by Kara Taylor; to MURDER, SHE RODE, a sharply observed and engaging traditional mystery set in the world of equestrian competitions, by Holly Menino.

In fiction, I find myself especially drawn to unique, fresh, engaging voices combined with brisk, intelligent plotting. I’m eagerly looking for nonfiction in the following categories—fashion, cooking, pop science/psychology, animals (especially dogs!), narrative nonfiction, and memoir—but am easily engrossed by clever writing that takes me “behind the scenes” to explore a topic I thought I knew, no matter the genre. 

Kat Brzozowski
Associate Editor     

I came to Thomas Dunne Books in 2009 after extensive experience at literary agencies, having interned at the Maria Carvainis Agency, Foundry Literary + Media, and Writers House. I look for non-fiction by authors with a great platform, like Joe Zee, creative director of ELLE magazine, whom I signed up to write a style book fusing stories from inside the fashion industry with  insider tales, tricks, and tips. I’m also drawn to narrative non-fiction about unusual lives or experiences. With mysteries, I love books with dynamic settings (BLOOD ORANGE, set in Santa Barbara, THE EVIDENCE ROOM, set in the Florida Bayou, and NIGHTS OF THE RED MOON, set in small-town Texas). I was raised on Agatha Christie, so I also love cozies and traditional mysteries (THE SÉANCE SOCIETY) that are inspired by the Golden Age of Mysteries. Voice is my first priority in young adult fiction. I’m seeking contemporary novels, both light and dark, and I’d love to find a great mystery, suspense, or thriller for teens. I am especially interested in YA with crossover appeal as well as anything that reminds me of Veronica Mars, and I would love to find a Lois Duncan or Fear Street for the 21^st century.  I’m also looking for fun, high-concept YA (BLONDE OPS, developed in-house with Peter Joseph, which combines James Bond with The Devil Wears Prada) and YA that exposes readers to new points of view.   

Nicole Sohl
Assistant Editor     

I joined Thomas Dunne Books in 2011 after several years assisting at literary agencies including WME and Folio Literary. Since joining the Macmillan family, I have had the pleasure of working with Tom Dunne on titles as diverse as NOVEMBER 22, 1963, a compendium of personal reflections on JFK’s assassination from average citizens and celebrities alike, and THE MISFORTUNATES, a frank, tender, and darkly hilarious story of a boy growing up in a family of alcoholics.

I am actively acquiring non-fiction projects that delve into modern American issues, like FRATRICIDE: CONFESSIONS OF AN IVY LEAGUE FRAT BOY, the sex-, drugs- and alcohol-fueled account of an ex Sigma Alpha Epsilon brother who blew the whistle on his frat’s inhumane hazing practices and debauched modus operandi. A huge fan of both Ursula K. Le Guin and David Mitchell, I’d also love to edit quality speculative fiction for a mainstream audience. 

Melanie Fried
Editorial Assistant    

I joined Thomas Dunne Books from Simon & Schuster in 2013 and after having interned twice at Thomas Dunne Books during college. I’m generally interested in acquiring upmarket commercial fiction of all types—I especially adore contemporary stories with historical threads and books that have obscure or less-known historical events or moments as their foundations—as well as books that fall under the “New Adult” category. I also enjoy narrative nonfiction, specifically on the topics of music, pop culture, 20th-century history, sports, and fashion, but I value strong narrative voice above all.

Jennifer Letwack
Editorial Assistant    

I began my publishing career at Thomas Dunne Books in 2013 after interning at Chalberg & Sussman. I have somewhat eclectic interests, ranging from YA, science fiction and fantasy, historical fiction, narrative histories, biographies, science, pop culture and upmarket fiction. More than anything, I love a good story with a purpose.