About this Event
Join us for an evening with Nigel Newton, Founder and Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing.
Speaker Bio:
Nigel Newton is the Founder and Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing, which he conceived in 1984 and started in 1986, launching the company with three other experienced publishers. Well known for his part in signing J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, Newton’s innovation and foresight across genres has led Bloomsbury to creative and financial success for four decades.
In 2021, he was awarded a CBE for services to the publishing industry in The Queen’s New Year Honours.
Newton’s visionary leadership has enabled Bloomsbury to remain a rare independent publisher since its inception, with its near unique combination of academic and general publishing and successful seizing of growing digital and audio opportunities.
Bloomsbury has been successful internationally, with about 75% of its sales overseas, with 1250 employees in the UK, the US, Australia and India generating about £350 million of sales annually and the company having recently been admitted to the FTSE 250 Companies on the London Stock Exchange where it has been a high performer.
Beyond the thriving consumer division, Newton has continued Bloomsbury’s academic diversification with the recent acquisition of the large independent US academic publisher Rowman & Littlefield for $83 million whose titles include the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud.
Bloomsbury’s future is bright, underpinned by Bloomsbury Academic Digital Resources. Newton is an advocate for copyright protection against unrestricted AI training and an industry voice for freedom of speech. Newton’s publishing and championing of authors is respected throughout the industry and his belief in the power of reading drives his role as President of Book Aid International, a charity providing 1.2 million books annually to communities and libraries all over the world.
In March 2025 he was appointed as a Trustee for the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is a past President of the Publishers Association where he championed the establishment of the annual Unwin Lecture on the value of publishing, past chairman of the British Library Trust and past chairman of the Charleston Trust during their significant expansion. Newton received the LBF Lifetime Achievement Award in publishing.
Bloomsbury is driven to this day by Newton’s founding aim to be a highly entrepreneurial publisher of works of excellence and originality.
WHEN: Thursday, 19 February 2026
5.30 PM – 6.30 PM: Fireside discussion in Keynes Lecture Theatre
6.30 PM – 7.00 PM: Drinks reception and networking in King’s Bar
WHERE: King’s College, Cambridge
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
King's College, Cambridge (Keynes Lecture Theatre), King's Parade, Cambridge, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
