Our team
Fiona Hickley
Fiona is the Interim Executive Director.
Storytelling and children’s literacy has been a thread through Fiona’s career leading brands and strategic partnerships. She was at Warner Bros. in European brand management for many years, leading Harry Potter in Europe and then as Global Franchise Director for the eight films.
Fiona joined Beano Studios in 2016 to work on the multi-platform relaunch of Beano. During her time at Beano and its parent company, DC Thomson, she had a lot of fun leading many literacy, charity, publishing, cultural and educational partnerships. This work developed an understanding of the interconnected sectors working together to bring the sheer joy and lifelong opportunities of reading to children.
Emma Pritchard
Emma is Head of the World Book Day Campaign.
During her 9 years at the charity she has worked on all aspects of the campaign but particularly enjoys promoting the message that reading is for everyone and working on community projects to bring books to children and young people who may not otherwise have access to books.
Before World Book Day, Emma worked in the marketing departments of publishing companies including Haymarket Publishing and DK Books where she was responsible for a diverse range of titles from Mary Berry’s cookery books to beautiful natural history books as well as working with key licensors including LEGO and Disney.
Her passion has always been in promoting the fun of reading in whatever format that takes whether it’s comics, audiobooks or curling up with one of your favourite books. With three small children Emma’s own TBR pile is getting bigger and bigger but her favourite part of the day is rediscovering all the books she loved as a child with her own children as well as discovering all the amazing new talent currently out there.
Maya Maraj
Maya Maraj is Head of Commercial Partnerships.
Maya is highly experienced within the Publishing and Licensing Industries and has managed a diverse portfolio of brands, authors and artists both as a Licensee and Licensor over the past 30 years.
In Publishing Maya has previously worked for Penguin Books, Scholastic and Sweet Cherry Publishing, and in Licensing she has worked for Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment and Shine 360 where she helped manage Licensing for Artists and Brands.
She is passionate about making reading accessible to all children.
Amy Birch
Amy is Head of Finance and Operations.
Having spent 18 years as an accountant in practice she has experience of both commercial and grant funded environments. She moved to the charity sector seven years ago driven by a commitment to make a meaningful impact to the world we live in. Prior to joining World Book Day, she was Director of Funding and Resources for a charity based in Birmingham, supporting underserved communities.
Outside of work she can often be found having fun with granddaughters or in a field somewhere with her labradors.
Morgan Jones
Morgan Jones is the Projects and Operations Officer.
Before World Book Day, Morgan worked in a primary school supporting children with their learning. She is excited to be part of the World Book Day team.
She developed her love of books from an early age leading her to pursue a degree in English Literature with Communication, Media & Culture. She is passionate about promoting diverse authors and wants every child to see themselves represented in the books they read.
Morgan is proud to be part of the World Book Day team, inspiring more children to read for fun and helping give every child the opportunity to have a book of their own.
Kate Sayer
A trained primary teacher Kate has worked in Arts Education since 2007. Kate has previously worked for the Warwick Arts Centre as Head of Creative Learning, the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education delivering teacher CPD programmes, The Story Museum (as Head of Learning), devising a learning offer for the museum’s first opening, Discover Children’s Story Centre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Kate loves connecting physical play experiences with books and when she’s not at work can be found using her son as a guinea pig.
Associates
Tom MacAndrew
Tom MacAndrew is a freelance consultant specialising in poetry and literature programmes. He has delivered projects for clients including Apples & Snakes, the British Museum, CLPE, Forward Arts Foundation, Poet in the City, Roundhouse, Spread the Word and World Book Day.
As a creative producer he has delivered work for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Arts. He produced three series of the Bedtime Stories for the End of the World podcast; edited an accompanying illustrated book; and currently runs Propel Magazine which promotes work by emerging poets. He has developed and toured shows nationally and internationally with poets including Joelle Taylor, Adam Kammerling, Joshua Idehen, Francesca Beard and John Hegley. Tom is the producer for Out-Spoken, London’s largest regular poetry night, resident at Southbank Centre, and for their publishing house Out-Spoken Press. In partnership with Spread the Word he runs the annual Deptford Literature Festival. He is a trustee of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.
