After discovering his love for literature while writing poetry and short stories at Woodberry Forest School in Virginia, Publisher Claiborne Hancock first tasted real book publishing as an intern with Algonquin Books in Chapel Hill. After graduation, he took the classic Radcliffe Publishing Course and found his first job in New York publishing at Applause Theater and Cinema Books. His first editorial work came at the literary house Carroll & Graf, where he learned the art of independent publishing under Kent Carroll, Herman Graf, and Otto Penzler.
Claiborne founded Pegasus in 2005 and, along with Associate Publisher Jessica Case, has built the company into an indie house that now publishes over one hundred books annually. His main passions outside of the book world are his beloved North Carolina Tar Heels and his Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Sasha.
Associate Publisher and director of publicity Jessica Case graduated from Princeton University with a degree in history and a minor in Russian, and after a short stint in Washington DC working in think tanks, she moved to New York to pursue a career in publishing. After working in editorial at Carroll & Graf and the Avalon Publishing Group, she moved to Pegasus in January 2007, and she has focused on acquiring a wide array of books, including literary fiction, upmarket crime and suspense fiction, and serious non fiction—history, biography, popular science, music, and narrative non fiction. A classically trained pianist and avid cook, she is also an officer with the New York Athletic Club triathlon club.
Associate Editor Victoria Wenzel graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BA in English. After graduating she spent a year as a bookseller before participating in the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford. She is excited to be starting her, hopefully long, career at Pegasus. She is interested in both fiction and nonfiction, especially, literary fiction, mystery, historical fiction, and ancient and medieval history.
Publicist Julia Romero graduated from New York University with a BA in English Literature. Julia began her publicity career at Wunderkind PR before joining the Pegasus team. Julia is an avid reader of science fiction, narrative nonfiction, and literary fiction. You can find her on Twitter: @PegasusJulia1
Publicity assistant Meghan Jusczak graduated from the University of Delaware, where she double majored in English literature and women & gender studies. After graduating, she worked in journalism and education in the Philadelphia area before moving to Romania to teach English on a Fulbright fellowship. She joined the Pegasus team as a social media associate after completing the Columbia Publishing Course and interning at St. Martin’s Publishing Group. Meghan is an avid reader of many different genres, but particularly enjoys literary fiction, historical fiction, memoirs, poetry, and nature writing.
Associate Publicist Nicole Maher graduated from Fairfield University with a major in English and minor in Digital Journalism. She began her career as an editorial and publicity assistant at a book review site based in Connecticut before joining the Pegasus team. Nicole enjoys reading a variety of genres, including literary and contemporary fiction, and narrative nonfiction.
Editorial Assistant Ally Purcell graduated from the University of Arizona with a double major in English and creative writing. She started her publishing journey as an editorial assistant at a small ebook publisher in Arizona. Then, after attending the Columbia Publishing Course, she began interning at Pegasus Books before eventually joining the team as an editorial assistant. Ally enjoys literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, and fantasy but will read anything that allows her to be elsewhere.
