On Thursday, Penguin Random House announced that Meru Gokhale, publisher at Penguin Press Group, will be leaving Penguin Random House India at the end of 2022. Gokhale tweeted that she will be continuing her association as a consultant.
Gokhale’s exit has led to important changes in the company. Milee Ashwarya has been appointed Publisher for Penguin Random House India Adult Publishing. A newly created role, it will see Ashwarya as the chief publisher for both divisions – Penguin Press, and Ebury Publishing and Vintage Publishing. She was earlier the Publisher of the latter. Manasi Subramaniam will be taking on the role of Editor in Chief for Penguin Press.
Ashwarya’s appointment signals a unification of PRH India’s adult publishing programme, which used to operate under two separate vertical divisions that competed – in theory if not in practice – with each other when it came to commissioning and acquiring books and authors. With the divisions united under Ashwarya’s leadership, this practice may well be discontinued.
