Alexandra Pringle
Alexandra Pringle, Hon. FRSL (born 1952/53), is a British publisher. She was a founding director of Virago Press and the editor-in-chief of Bloomsbury Publishing for 18 years as of March 2018. Biography. Pringle began her career in publishing at the British magazine "Art Monthly", before joining the women's publisher Virago in 1978. She worked on Virago's Modern Classics series and in 1984 she became their Editorial Director until 1991, when she moved to Hamish Hamilton with the same job title. Between 1994 and 1999 she was a literary agent for writers who included Amanda  Foreman, Maggie O'Farrell and Ali Smith. Pringle joined Bloomsbury in 1999, as head of the adult publishing division. Pringle is enthusiastic about authors and books but does not believe that paper has to be involved. At one point Stephen King told his publishers that his books must only be on paper, and Pringle went to print to say that authors should not tell their readers how they should read. "Her" authors at Bloomsbury included Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sheila Hancock, Celia Imrie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Colum McCann, Anne Michaels, Ann Patchett, George Saunders, Kamila Shamsie, Patti Smith, Kate Summerscale and Barbara  Trapido. In March 2018, Pringle handed over the day-to-day running of Bloomsbury's adult trade publishing division to Emma Hopkin, but remained editor-in-chief. Awards. Pringle has received honorary doctors of letters degrees from Anglia Ruskin University and Warwick University. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a patron of Index on Censorship. Private life. She lived in Hampstead, London, until her divorce in 2000. She has remarried.