Jessica Kingsley Publishers has been acquired by Hachette UK, effective immediately. It has been folded into John Murray Press as an imprint, and will be overseen by managing director Nick Davies. The agreement keeps Kingsley intact as a company, with Hachette UK made 100% shareholder.
"Jessica Kingsley has built a business of great significance, renowned for anticipating trends and identifying gaps in the market, publishing books that are essential for professionals in their specialist areas, and that serve the communities with which they work," Jamie Hodder Williams, CEO of Hodder, Headline, Quercus and John Murray Press, said in a statement. "I am greatly looking forward to welcoming the Jessica Kingsley team into Hachette."
Kingsley plans to retire from her publisher, but will stay on as a consultant well into 2018. The publisher's U.K. staff will remain intact, Hachette says, and will remain in the Kingsley offices in King’s Cross for the time being. The U.S. branch of Kingsley, where a sales and marketing team is in place, will also remain at their offices, which are in Philadelphia. All contracts—with employees, authors, freelancers, distribution partners, and others—will be honored.
"I am very happy indeed that JKP and Singing Dragon have found such a good home," Kinglsey said in a statement. "I have always admired the Hachette ethos, and know that both our authors and our staff will thrive in this larger environment."
Founded in 1987, Jessica Kingsley Publishers publishes nonfiction focusing on social and mental health sciences and social justice, with work on subjects including autism, graphic medicine, gender diversity, and, under its Singing Dragon imprint, Chinese medicine.
