Former Knopf executive Reagan Arthur returns to her previous publisher, Hachette Book Group

NEW YORK (AP) — Weeks after being let go as the publisher of Alfred A. Knopf, Reagan Arthur is returning to her former employer, Hachette Book Group, as a senior executive who will edit authors from across the company and head her own imprint.

Arthur, who will have the title of senior vice president/publisher, begins her new job Sept. 23.

“I couldn’t be happier to come back to the Hachette colleagues and authors I admire so deeply,” Arthur said in a statement released Thursday by Hachette. Arthur, one of the industry’s most widely liked executives, had previously served as senior vice president/publisher of the Hachette division Little, Brown and Company. She has worked on bestsellers by Tina Fey, Malcolm Gladwell, David Sedaris and many others. At Knopf, she oversaw the publication of Jayne Anne Phillips’ “Night Watch,” this year’s winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Arthur’s imprint at Hachette is expected to release four to six books per year, both commercial and literary works.

“I’m so excited to be welcoming Reagan back to Hachette,” Hachette CEO David Shelley said in a statement. “She’s one of the legendary editors and publishers, as well as being one of the most fun and collegial people to work with.”

Arthur had left Hachette in 2020, when she succeeded the longtime publisher of Knopf, Sonny Mehta, who had died the previous year. For what the publisher called financial reasons, she and fellow executive Lisa Lucas were dismissed in May. Lucas had headed Pantheon/Schocken, which, like Knopf, is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.