Name: Sophie Siers
Role: Everything!
Company: Millwood Press
My first job in publishing was… I think I was packing books for my parents before I was 10! They had a building in Buckle Street that we use to go to after school and do odd jobs. After they moved Tinakori Road, where they set up Millwood Gallery as the front section of Millwood Press, I was cheap labour for all activities! Packing, ordering, dispatch, shop, sales, banking, framing and deliveries – there were lots to London Bookshop! I did all the deliveries in my grandfather’s very racy red Toyota E20 (I wish I had kept that!). I even used to travel to Hong Kong with my mother to check the printing.
I’m currently reading… I read lots at once, I always have a stack of picture books beside my bed for research, the library must think I have 20 small children! Always some YA usually fantasy / sci-fi to keep up with what teenagers are thinking and something for me for when I’m awake enough to remember what I’ve read. I’ve just picked up Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders on recommendation from Charlotte, one of the lovely publishers I met at the PANZ conference.
My biggest career highlight in publishing was...It’s right now with my co-edition of Dear Donald Trump, a children’s book I’ve produced with publishers from Italy, Belgium and French Canada. It only happened through the generosity of publishers I met through PANZ. First Julia Marshall from Gecko who offered to mentor me and got me up and running for my first Frankfurt, then Kevin Chapman who took over from Julia to help me put together the co-edition (do you ever sleep Kevin? You answered the phone any time I called you day or night!), to Peter Dowling who made sure the book was sold in South America (just sold to Mexico and Brazil) and all the other publishers who answered my seemingly unending questions – what generous people you all are. Many thanks to you all.
