Scholastic Names Samantha Smith, Fiction Publisher, and Rachel Partridge, Group Marketing and Publicity Director, Scholastic UK

By Press Release

Samantha Smith will join Scholastic UK on May 20th as Fiction Publisher. Samantha is currently Editorial Director at Little Brown, where she has worked with authors including P.C. and Kristin Cast, Chris Colfer and Stephenie Meyer. She will report to Hilary Murray Hill, MD of Scholastic Children’s Books, who has overall responsibility for Scholastic’s trade publishing in the UK.

Hilary commented, ‘‘Samantha’s appointment will enhance our exceptional editorial team and take the Scholastic fiction list forward in new directions. I am absolutely delighted that we will be working together”. Samantha said, ''I'm thrilled to be joining Scholastic. It's a house with a brilliant publishing history, one that I very much grew up with, but that remains a vibrant and dynamic part of children's publishing today and is incredibly well-placed to meet the challenges of the market going forward. I'm looking forward to working with the in-house team and their outstanding authors.”

Rachel Partridge will join Scholastic UK on June 3rd from Universal Pictures to the newly created role of Group Marketing and Publicity Director. Rachel is a children’s specialist with a proven track record of delivering award-winning marketing communication across the DVD and Publishing industries, working at Ladybird, on the Beatrix Potter brands, Disney publishing and BBC Books before Universal. She is winner of the British Video Association Children's marketing initiative 2012 and is short listed for the same award in 2013. At Universal, Rachel has overseen a turnaround in the DTV (direct to video) children's brands through a refocused marketing strategy, delivering double-digit sales growth for several key franchises including Barbie(TM) and The Snowman.

Rachel said, “I'm delighted to be joining Scholastic at such an exciting time. I look forward to working with the team to create marketing campaigns that have passion, verve and deep consumer connections as we look to inspire the next generation of readers.”