Hachette Book Group announces Lara Heimert as President and Publisher of Basic Books Group
Two New Imprints, Basic Venture and Basic Liberty, Added to Award-Winning Roster
NEW YORK (Nov. 7, 2024) — Today, Hachette Book Group CEO David Shelley announced the promotion of Lara Heimert to President and Publisher of the Basic Books Group. Under Heimert’s robust and innovative leadership, the Basic Books Group expanded its catalog, earning itself a reputation for high-quality nonfiction that resonates with a diverse readership. The announcement welcomes two new imprints that Heimert recently created within the Basic Books Group—Basic Venture and Basic Liberty.
“The Basic Books Group has seen fantastic growth and success in recent years. They know their readership incredibly well and are able to serve their desire for serious non-fiction publishing by the leading authors in their fields across a range of different topics,” said Shelley. “Lara has grown and steered the group with incredible vision and precision; her promotion, and the investments we’re making with the two new imprints and other promotions and hires, are testament to the further potential for growth we see in this space and with this skilled team.”
Basic Venture, a new business and economics imprint, will build off PublicAffairs’ two decades of excellence in business publishing. Along with the Basic Books Group’s commitment to publishing books by leading experts, Basic Venture is dedicated to helping individuals and organizations who want to change the way they do business. The imprint will be led by Editorial Director Colleen Lawrie and Executive Editor Emily Taber.
Heimert also announced that Thomas Spence has joined Hachette Book Group to lead Basic Liberty, a new conservative imprint that will publish serious works of cultural, social, and political analysis by conservative writers of original thought. He is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Institute, holds a JD from the University of Chicago, a Master of Arts in Medieval Studies from Harvard University, and formerly served as the President and Publisher of Regnery. Basic Liberty will represent a wide range of conservative perspectives, focusing on topics of enduring interest rather than transitory political concerns.
Additionally, Brian Distelberg is being promoted to Vice President, Associate Publisher of the Basic Books Group, adding to his current title of Editor in Chief, Basic Books. In this role, Distelberg will oversee the editorial direction of Basic Venture alongside Basic Books, Seal Press, and PublicAffairs (including the hiring of a new Editorial Director for the PublicAffairs imprint). Heimert will oversee the editorial direction of Bold Type Books and Basic Liberty.
“I am grateful to David Shelley for his support as we reimagine the Basic Books Group. As I have learned from working at Basic Books for 20 years, imprints with strong focus and category dominance are destined to succeed,” said Heimert. “In Thomas, Colleen, and Emily, we have editors with deep expertise in their respective areas of acquisition. And in Brian, we have a leader whose intellectual rigor and high standards for excellence will help me steer all six of the imprints towards greater success and profitability.”
Heimert joined Basic Books in 2005 from Yale University Press, and later became Vice President and Publisher of the imprint in 2012. In 2019, Heimert went on to lead Seal Press; in 2023, she became Senior Vice President and Publisher of the Basic Books Group, responsible for PublicAffairs and Bold Type Books. As an accomplished editor, she has published numerous award-winning and best-selling books. Heimert is responsible for elevating the group’s profile within the literary community and supporting Hachette Book Group’s mission of publishing books that allow people to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment, and opportunity. Her leadership has brought Basic Books Group many esteemed awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Bancroft Prize, the LA Times Book Prize, and the Wolfson Prize.
About Basic Books Group:
The Basic Books Group is dedicated to making the world smarter by publishing works of serious non-fiction by expert authors. The group includes Basic Books, Seal Press, PublicAffairs, Bold Type Books, Basic Venture, and Basic Liberty.
Since its founding in 1950, Basic Books has shaped public debate by publishing award-winning books in history, science, politics, biography, and psychology. Seal Press, founded in 1976, publishes enduring works of feminist non-fiction. For over 25 years, PublicAffairs has published books at the heart of the national and global conversation — books that inform, advocate, educate, debunk, and speak truth to power. For two decades, Bold Type Books has aimed to challenge power through narrative by publishing works of urgent and ambitious journalism. Created in 2024, Basic Venture publishes experts at the heart of the national and global conversation in business and economics. Basic Liberty is dedicated to publishing serious works of cultural, social, and political analysis by conservative intellectuals. As a whole, the Basic Books Group is dedicated to the proposition that ideas matter.
About Hachette Book Group:
Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading U.S. general-interest book publisher made up of dozens of esteemed imprints within the publishing groups Basic Books Group, Grand Central Publishing Group, Hachette Audio, Little, Brown and Company, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Orbit, and Workman Running Press Group. We also provide custom distribution, fulfillment, and sales services to other publishing companies.
Our books and authors have received the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, Booker Prize, Nobel Peace Prize and other major honors.
We are committed to diversity in our company and our publishing programs, and to fostering a culture of inclusion for all our employees and authors. We are proud to be part of Hachette Livre, the world’s third-largest trade and educational publisher.
Visit hachettebookgroup.com to learn more about HBG imprints. For updated news follow HBG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X.com, and YouTube
Press Contact:
Gabrielle Gambrell, Chief Communications Officer, Gabrielle.Gambrell@hbgusa.com