Ause Abdelhaq to join August Books

Ause Abdelhaq will join the August Books team as Senior Commissioning Editor on 6th May. He will be building an eclectic non-fiction list including, but not limited to, sport, reportage, true crime and puzzles and games.

Abdelhaq is currently a Commissioning Editor at Macmillan, where he has spent two years publishing on both the Macmillan Business and general Pan Non-Fiction lists. He has acquired several ground-breaking titles across genres, including Olympian Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s Unbroken; journalist Plestia Alaqad’s The Eyes of Gaza; and tech writer Katie Prescott’s upcoming The Curious Case of Mike Lynch. His first acquisition at Macmillan was Parmy Olson’s Supremacy, the thrilling story about the foundations of AI which won the FT and Schroders Business Book of the Year last year. Also in 2024, Abdelhaq was named an inaugural winner of the Society of Young Publishers’ First Chapter prize, and was shortlisted for the FutureBook Future Leader of the Year award.

August is an imprint of Canelo, now a division of DK. August Books launched in March 2024 with a focus on publishing quality narrative non-fiction for curious readers. The current team is Martina O’Sullivan and Hannah Taylor. New and upcoming titles include Explaining AuDHD by Dr Khurram Sadiq, Free Ride by YouTube sensation Noraly Schoenmaker aka Itchy Boots, New York Times Bestseller When Women Ran Fifth Avenue by Julie Satow and Whores, Harlots and Hussies by Katie Charlwood.

O’Sullivan said: “It has been an incredible first year for August and I’m looking forward to sharing the true breadth and depth of the list so far very soon. I’ve always wanted it to be a home for publishing that is distinctive, inclusive and bold, and I knew I’d need to hire a truly entrepreneurial editor to make that happen. Ause is the most creative, passionate and relentless non-fiction editor I know and, together with Hannah, we’re going to make August a world-class imprint.”

Abdelhaq said: “I am deeply grateful to everyone at Pan Macmillan for the last two years; I’ve had a lot of fun, and grown hugely as a publisher. While I am sad to be leaving my frankly incredible colleagues, I’m thrilled to be embarking on a new adventure at August Books. I cannot wait to start acquiring for what promises to be an exceptional narrative non-fiction list – it feels like the team is building something special with Canelo at DK, and I’m excited to be a part of that. I am particularly enthused by the prospect of working alongside Martina, and of the mandate to go and scope out fresh voices to publish.”

Ause will be reachable at [email protected].