James Woodhouse

A seasoned publishing professional and book entrepreneur, James Woodhouse is currently Managing Editor at the Wilbur Smith Estate, Director and Publisher at Black Star Books, Director of Woodhouse Literary and Rights and an Associate at Tibor Jones & Associates.

Originally from Norwich in the UK, James began his career at Picador in London before moving permanently to South Africa in 2004. For the next ten years he built his reputation as a fiction editor and publisher at Kwela Books, Adamastor and Penguin South Africa. He was a founding member what remains South Africa's premier literary event - the Franschhoek Literary Festival - and the authors he edited and published during this time won numerous local and international prizes and awards.

In 2015, James returned to the UK to set up the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation and facilitate the creation of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize - an annual award of £10 000 given for the best adventure novel published in the preceding twelve months. In 2016, he set up Woodhouse Literary and Rights, a literary agency specialising in African fiction and backlist rights. Backed by the Ford Foundation, the Miles Morland Foundation and Africa No Filter, the primary focus of WLR is the republishing and reinvigoration of the Heinemann African Writers Series. To date 91 titles have been republished from the series.

In 2023, James became Managing Editor at the Wilbur Smith Estate, where he oversees the daily publishing decisions on all Wilbur Smith titles. He lives in Limpopo, South Africa.