Canelo
Hannah Taylor, Editor, August Books
I am looking for narrative non-fiction that is properly immersive. For me, that means well-crafted writing, with complex characters, strong pacing and a real world that you can escape into.
I have worked at Canelo for three years, moving from fiction into non-fiction in 2024. I support Martina O’Sullivan on several August Books titles, and am also working on a list of my own, primarily in history, society and culture, and nature.
Topic-wise, I love to be surprised, but I find myself drawn repeatedly to stories about community and belonging – whether this comes in the form of rustic histories like The Restless Republic by Anna Keay and The Lost Folk by Lally Macbeth, or something more contemporary and political, like Party Lines by Ed Gillett.
A book I’m proud of…
I am so proud to have worked on The Divide by Maurits Chabot, a series of seven true stories from around the world of unlikely friendships forming across enemy lines. Part-short story collection and part-journalistic mission, this book refuses the traditional genre labels and pushes the boundary of what non-fiction can be.
A book I wish I'd published...
The book that I would have loved to have published is The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight, the stranger-than-fiction story of John Barker’s experiments in parapsychology that took place amongst the fringes of 1960s British public life. I find myself repeatedly drawn to offbeat histories like this one – especially if they follow the perspective of the underdog.