PW: Dickinson to Head RH UK Children's Books

In the wake of Debbie Sandford's decision to resign as managing director of Random House UK's children's publishing, Philippa Dickinson, chairman of Transworld Children's Books, has been made chairman of Random House Children's Publishing.

Sandford's decision to resign in order to spend more time with her children has brought new responsibilities for Gill Evans, recently appointed head of children's publishing at RH UK, and for Dickinson, publisher of Transworld Children's Books, which is part of the same publishing group.

Evans will be concerned with the day-to-day running of the children's group, while Dickinson, who will remain with Transworld, will be responsible for group strategy. "The RH and Transworld children's lists are very different," Dickinson told PW, "and I will be aiming to play to our different strengths. The front of house will remain unchanged, but behind the scenes we will be looking at how both lists can do things even better." While she is excited at the prospect of heading two such successful lists, she admitted that at this stage her role has yet to emerge, though she could see it involving electronic publishing and negotiating contracts.