Amina Iro
Associate Editor
Legacy Lit

Amina Iro, who began her publishing career at Amistad, joined Hachette’s fledgling imprint Legacy Lit in 2021. “We hadn’t published any books yet,” Iro recalls. On Hachette’s website, “our name wasn’t even in the drop-down menu.”

Legacy Lit founder Krishan Trotman describes Iro as an indefatigable assistant editor. “She took on the role of about 10 people, helping shape the ethos that constitutes our imprint today,” Trotman says. “Our authors constantly praise her calming guidance and keen editorial eye.”

“Multifacetedness is my strength,” says Iro, who double-majored in creative writing and neurobiology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Now an associate editor, Iro oversees an eclectic nonfiction list. Her titles range from the 2024 cookbook Al Roker’s Recipes to Live By to humanitarian and disability activist Eddie Ndopu’s 2023 memoir Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw; she’s excited about Lindsey Stewart’s history of Black women and magic, The Conjuring of America (out now) and Sarah L. Webb’s Colorism (July 2026), a study of biases related to skin tones. Recently, Iro was thrilled to work with Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, on Malcolm in the Desert (May 2026).

Another responsibility is Legacy Lit’s Heritage Line, a series pairing literary icons with current creators. “At Amistad, I came in around the paperback publication of Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon,” Iro says, “and I also worked alongside hip-hop artists 50 Cent and Rakim. When I came to Legacy Lit, Krishan had acquired Sing a Black Girl’s Song, a collection of unpublished works by Ntozake Shange, and she passed the project to me.”

For the book on Shange, Iro worked with Imani Perry (South to America), who delved into Shange’s archives, and #MeToo activist Tarana Burke, who wrote the foreword. Iro loved developing the project. “For the audiobook, we aimed big and asked a bunch of celebrities,” she says. “It ended up being an Audie Award finalist,” with narrators including Regina Taylor, Lynn Whitfield, and Alfre Woodard.

“I want to be known as someone who puts a lot of effort into the books that I publish,” Iro says. “We have high-touch relationships with our authors, and I think that makes for good publishing.”

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