Emma worked as a civil servant before studying for her English degree, then worked in bookselling, at both Waterstones and Ottakars. She then got it into her head she would like to work in publishing, spending many fruitless years searching for an elusive editorial job. Finally, after working as an administrator for a year for a publisher in Guildford, she moved to London and fell into events work for over six years. But, the written word proved far more personally rewarding than events, which prompted a search for an interesting job involving books and writers and one that utilised her previous experience. And luckily Arvon were looking for a Development Manager at that time.

She took up the role at the beginning of September. The role involves finding new ways of funding Arvon’s work and ensuring that the widest number of people get to know about the Arvon experience.