Semareh Al-Hillal, President of House of Anansi Press and Groundwood Books, is pleased to announce that Karen Brochu has been named Publisher at House of Anansi Press and Douglas Richmond has been named Editorial Director. Both will assume their new roles in July. 

“Karen is an invaluable member of our company, and I am delighted she will be moving into the role of Publisher. She brings deep knowledge of the trade market in Canada and the U.S. and has a passion for publishing Very Good Books and getting them into readers’ hands. Doug has over a decade of experience in acquiring and editing across many genres and instinctively considers the Anansi list as a whole. Karen and Doug are both outstanding ambassadors for Anansi, and their complementary areas of excellence usher in an exciting time for the company.”  — Semareh Al-Hillal

“House of Anansi Press has a fantastic editorial team that I have worked with for many years. I have enjoyed working closely with them through multiple acquisitions and have learned from some of the best publishers in the trade over these past eight years. I look forward to putting my own stamp on a storied house that has been such a place of joy for me and continuing the work of publishing Very Good Books.” — Karen Brochu

“I’m thrilled to be stepping into the role of Editorial Director at House of Anansi Press. We have an outstanding editorial team at Anansi, with decades of combined experience publishing bestselling and award-winning books here in Canada and abroad. I look forward to working closely with Karen and the team to discover the next generation of bold, creative, and original storytellers for the Anansi list.” — Douglas Richmond  

Karen Brochu is currently Vice President, Sales & Marketing, at House of Anansi Press, leading the sales, marketing, and publicity teams. She was Sales Director and National Accounts Manager at Anansi prior to that, and also has experience in educational publishing at John Wiley & Sons. She served as President of the Ontario Book Publishers Organization from 2020–2022 and co-chaired the Trade Committee of the Association of Canadian Publishers from 2019–2021.

Douglas Richmond is currently Senior Editor at House of Anansi Press. Previously, he was an editor at HarperCollins Canada and the University of Toronto Press.

“Karen Brochu will bring her creativity and vast understanding of the Anansi list to the role of Publisher, and Doug Richmond taking on the position of Editorial Director will be a boon for the company’s publishing program.” — Scott Griffin, Owner of House of Anansi Press

Semareh Al-Hillal, Karen Brochu, and Douglas Richmond are available for comment and interview.