Founding Bloomsbury Publishing: The Inside Story

Step inside Bloomsbury Publishing as we reveal the origins of a publishing company.

Join us on Thursday, September 27th as we go all the way back to the beginning with three of the four original members of Bloomsbury to learn how it all began and discover what aspiring publishers today could learn from their experiences (if anything!).

We’re delighted to present an evening at Bloomsbury with Nigel Newton, David Reynolds and Liz Calder as they talk about those earliest days at Bloomsbury, the highest highs to the deepest lows and back again, with Daily Telegraph columnist and Bloomsbury author, Mick Brown, who was there at the beginning too.

In 1986, Nigel Newton had the idea to start Bloomsbury. He gathered three literary pioneers, first David Reynolds and then Liz Calder and Alan Wherry, to start Bloomsbury Publishing together with a notion to publish outstanding literary fiction and non-fiction for wide audiences.

Fast forward thirty-two years to 2018 and Bloomsbury is a thriving independent publishing house which publishes 2,500 titles annually and is the home of some of the world’s most exciting authors, acclaimed digital resources and the best academic writing. It has nearly 700 staff, annual sales of £163,000,000 and offices in London, New York, Oxford, Haywards Heath, Sydney and New Delhi.

Leading the way in publishing innovation, excellence and entrepreneurialism, Bloomsbury has made its name over the past three decades as a dynamic company, owned by the public, including its own readers, authors and staff, through pension funds with its shares listed on the London Stock Exchange.

But how did it all begin? If they were to start up in 2018, what would Bloomsbury Publishing look like? Should others follow a similar path?