Our mission is to work together to bring the best publishing to the greatest variety of people.
Open, agile, passionate and innovative – we believe that everyone will find something they love at Orion.
Your story starts here.
What makes Orion unique is the breadth of our publishing – we truly cater for all readers – and we are proud of our legacy as a publisher that breaks down barriers, demystifies the industry and publishes books that start conversations and drive real change.
We couldn’t do what we do without our talented team, and that’s why our people sit at the heart of our business. To help us deliver on our mission, we hold ourselves accountable to the following values to ensure we’re all working together towards a common goal:
AGILE
We are fast, flexible and proactive. We are quick to identify opportunities and react to them.
AMBITIOUS
We hold ourselves to the highest of standards. We think big, raise the bar and do all we can to deliver the best results.
COMMITTED
We are determined and tenacious, taking individual responsibility for the publishing journey while always working as a united team.
EVERY VOICE IS HEARD
Good ideas, like good stories, can come from anywhere. We foster a culture of openness where all contributions are encouraged and valued.
Founded in 1991, The Orion Publishing Group is part of Hachette UK and today publishes under ten main imprints:
Gollancz | The UK’s No.1 science fiction and fantasy imprint since 1927
Orion Fiction | Commercial, award-winning popular fiction, with an impressive record of publishing Sunday Times and international bestsellers
Laurence King Publishing | Beautiful books and gifts that inspire creativity
Orion Ignite | Agenda-setting non-fiction that makes a lasting impact: timeless books that help us strive for more in the way we live and work
Orion Spring | The best in health, wellbeing and inspiration
Seven Dials | Standout commercial non-fiction from the brightest stars of today – and the future
Trapeze | Home to bold and agenda-setting fiction and non-fiction
Phoenix | A boutique imprint for fiction and memoir that combine brilliant writing with a broad appeal
White Rabbit | Music, Books, Literature. The destination publisher for bestselling memoirs, majestic music histories, cult fiction and future countercultural classics.
Weidenfeld & Nicolson | Ground-breaking, award-winning, thought-provoking literary publishing since 1949
OUR HISTORY
The Orion Publishing Group was founded in 1991 by maverick publisher Anthony Cheetham, but its history reaches much further back as the venerable publishers Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Victor Gollancz soon became part of the group.
Weidenfeld & Nicolson (W&N), founded in 1949 by George Weidenfeld and Nigel Nicolson, built a reputation for quality publishing and for bringing the very best – sometimes controversial – books to the reading public, including Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Isaiah Berlin’s seminal work The Hedgehog and the Fox and the Booker Prize-winning The Siege of Krishnapur by J G Farrell. Since becoming part of The Orion Publishing Group, W&N has continued to publish bestselling and prize-winning authors such as Malala Yousafzai, Philippe Sands, Michael Palin, Téa Obreht, Gillian Flynn, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Clare Chambers and James McBride.
Victor Gollancz, founded in 1928, revolutionised publishing methods in the UK, flooding bookshops with its distinctive yellow jackets and newspapers with the bold advertisements that made the brand famous. Gollancz published a wide range of distinguished authors including Daphne du Maurier, H G Wells and Franz Kafka. In 1936 Victor Gollancz co-founded The Left Book Club, which influenced the political thinking of a whole generation.
Now the UK’s no.1 SFF imprint, Gollancz launched the SF Gateway in 2011 and later the Gollancz Emporium, winning Imprint of the Year in 2021. Its roll call of bestselling authors includes Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Stephanie Garber, Victoria Aveyard and Terry Pratchett.
Over the years, The Orion Publishing Group has launched several new imprints: Trapeze (2016) for conversation-starting fiction and non-fiction, Seven Dials and Orion Spring (2017) for the best in wellbeing and commercial non-fiction, White Rabbit (2020) dedicated to publishing the most distinctive books and voices in music and literature, Phoenix (2021) a boutique literary imprint that combines brilliant writing with broad appeal, and new smart-thinking imprint Orion Ignite (2024), a home for agenda-setting non-fiction that helps us strive for more in the way we live and work.
In 2020 Laurence King, the world’s leading publisher of gifts and books on the creative arts, joined the Orion family and continues to produce innovative and beautiful products, including partnerships with Marina Abramovic, Jamie Smart and the Agatha Christie estate.
Orion has a long history of publishing no.1 bestselling authors including Ian Rankin, Candice Carty-Williams, Joanne Harris, Michael Connelly, Emily English, The Hairy Bikers and the Rev Richard Coles and has twice been named Publisher of the Year, in 2005 and 2021.
