Meet the Team
Mark Hendle
Managing Director
Mark is a Chartered Accountant having spent the first nine years of his career working in the City as an auditor. He joined Andersen as the Finance Director in 2004, becoming Managing Director in 2013. He now oversees all finance, logistics and legal operations. Outside of Coptic Street he is a Tottenham Hotspur supporter, for his sins, and dreams of one day getting his high school band, Heavy Duty, back together again.
His best remembered children’s book is “A Billion for Boris” but no-one else has ever heard of it.
Charlie Sheppard
Publishing Director
Charlie joined Andersen Press in 2009 from Random House, where she was the Editorial Director of Fiction. She is the recipient of the Branford Boase award for editing and an honorary member of the YLG for her services to libraries. Like all good editors she believes in magic, hope and the power of reading to do good. She is very messy and has a tendency to swear but she once read that these are signs of intelligence - along with being left-handed - so she makes no apologies.
The book that made her a reader is The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton.
Sue Buswell
Editorial Director
Sue chooses to deceive rather than admit just how many years she has worked as a picture book editor in many of the larger publishing houses before coming to Andersen in 2018. Before her publishing career she was a bookseller, a job she loved because it meant she could read children’s books for large parts of the day, which - a popular misconception - isn’t possible within a publishing house. On her first day, faced with a wall of face-out picture books on display, it was love at first sight, an enduring love that has remained ever since.
The first book to transport her to a magical world was The Secret Garden which began a lifelong love of reading and of gardens.
Alice Milner-Watt
Senior Commissioning Editor and Head of Brand
Alice worked in digital publishing before she joined Andersen Press, who took a chance on her editorial capabilities in 2016. Working on picture books lets her indulge her passion for surprising stories and incredible art, and the magic that happens when the two come together. Always drawn to a good puzzle or story in any form, Alice loves to fill her brain with video games and cryptic crosswords, and then clear it out again with yoga.
As a child, she went from enjoying interactive classics like The Jolly Postman to craving books about dark fantasy worlds after her dad read her The Hobbit when she was just 4 years old.
Eloise Wilson
Senior Commissioning Editor
Biography on the way!
Elle Oakes
Editorial Assistant
Elle joined Andersen Press in 2024 after graduating with an English Literature degree from the University of York. She works across the picture book and fiction teams, as well as assisting Charlie with all things special sales.
A book she loved to read as a child (and sometimes as an adult) is The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson – a story that inspired a love of both travel and literature!
Beccy Garrill
Art Director - Picture Books
Beccy joined Andersen Press a really long time ago when our founder Klaus Flugge had a staff of 4 and open plan offices were yet to be invented. All these years later she is still amazed that she gets to do a job where working with brilliant artists is an everyday thing and where pictures make words come alive.
Her favourite book growing up was Dogger by Shirley Hughes and she is still a sucker for a lost toy story.
Kate Grove
Art Director - Fiction
Kate joined Andersen Press in 2010. She loves working with the team and amazing artists from all over the world to create the fiction list. Kate originally studied graphic design. She is also qualified in illustration and yoga, so she understands the artists perspective and communicates art direction in a calm and uplifting way!
When growing up, Kate's favourite books were by Richard Scary. Lowly Worm is still a source of inspiration. A kind and energetic character, he always wears a hat, a bow tie and one shoe. And is always polite. He reminds Kate; be respectful, dress to make yourself happy and go get involved in the world. Even if you’re just going to the park to mess about.
Elen Jones
Junior Designer
Elen joined the Design team at Andersen Press in 2021 having worked in Marketing in Welsh-language publishing for many years. Working across Picture Books and Fiction, her love of books started early with the Rwdlan series by Angharad Tomos. She gets an unreasonable amount of joy from well-designed endpapers and will always tell you to judge a book by its cover.
Rob Farrimond
Head of PR
Rob joined Andersen Press in 2019 as Junior Publicity & Marketing Officer. A History graduate, he began his publishing career at a Military History and British Heritage publisher before deciding children’s publishing seemed much more fun (he was right)! When not at librarian conferences, out with authors or talking about his dog, he can be found in the theatre, seeing every new play London has to offer.
The book that made him fall in love with reading was Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar.
Jade McGrath
Marketing Executive
Jade joined Andersen Press in 2025, bringing with her over four years’ experience in marketing across a range of children’s publishers. Passionate about inclusive storytelling, she loves finding imaginative ways to connect young readers with books they’ll treasure. She has previously won a Book Marketing Society Award. Outside of work, she can often be found travelling, at the theatre, lost in a good book, or crafting.
Her favourite children’s books growing up were The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter and The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare.
Chloe May
Publicity Assistant
Chloe joined Andersen Press in 2025, having worked as a Public Relations Executive in the recruitment sector for three years. Prior to this, she studied English Literature and Media at Sussex University and went on to do a Masters in English at City, University of London. She is passionate about the power of storytelling and connecting readers with books they’ll love. Outside of work, you can find her walking her rescue golden retriever Cookie or curled up with a cup of tea and a good book.
Her favourite children’s book is Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.
Liz White
Rights Director
Liz joined Andersen Press in 2017 from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation where she was Head of Publishing and Licensing. Being a dedicated rights person she loves bookfairs, the busier the better, and the opportunity to spread the word about great books far and wide. Outside of work she can sometimes be found kicking a football around or enjoying a long walk, usually with the reward of a lovely old pub at the end.
She was lucky to have a childhood full of books, one of her particular favourites is Charlotte’s Web.
Elena Battista
Senior Rights Manager
Elena joined Andersen Press in 2021 as a temporary cover but could not stay away and came back for good in 2023. She had a previous career in Italy as a conference interpreter and literary translator but embraced publishing in 2002, and moved to London in 2013. She has a passion for illustration, collects children’s books and graphic novels and she has written a few. She believes in the power of words and colours to make people happier.
She grew up reading Gianni Rodari’s Telephone Tales and she still considers The Grammar of Fantasy a seminal book.
Mary Berry
Production Manager
Biography on the way!
Jonathon Moore
Digital Content Manager
Jonathon has been with Andersen Press since 2013, and while he isn't technically IT Support, he's always on hand to advise people to turn their laptops off and on again (it fixes most problems!). He spends his days making trailers for upcoming books, coding eBooks, managing website content, and keeping the digital file archive up-to-date.
Growing up, when he wasn't playing Crash Bandicoot on his PlayStation, he was reading the Artemis Fowl series.