Ashley Garland, Publicity Director

Ashley Garland

Ashley Garland has worked on dozens of national media campaigns for award-winning and New York Times bestselling Riverhead authors including James McBride, Daniel Pink, Anne Lamott, Bryan Washington, Michele Harper, and Randall Munroe. 

Read More

Jenn Houghton, Publishing Associate

Jenn Houghton (she/her) joined Viking Penguin in October 2021 and currently assists Brian Tart. She graduated with a Creative Writing B.A. from William Paterson University which she earned while managing a retail business in Montclair, New Jersey. Moving on from small business, she entered the world of publishing with a passion for absurdist fiction, introspective…

Read More

Marissa Davis, Editorial Assistant

Marissa Davis (she/her) joined Viking, Penguin Books, and Penguin Classics in 2021 as an assistant to John Siciliano and Ibrahim Ahmad. Originally from Kentucky, she graduated from Vanderbilt University before pursuing her MFA in poetry from New York University. Prior to joining Viking Penguin, she interned at Frances Goldin Literary Agency, served as a translations…

Read More

Camille LeBlanc, Associate Editor

Camille LeBlanc works with Allison Lorentzen. She is drawn to fiction and nonfiction that explore timeless questions in contemporary contexts; character-driven stories that illuminate geopolitical tensions; and books that are funny, perspective-altering, and have an element of suspense. She joined Viking Penguin in 2020 after working as an editorial fellow at Lit Hub and as…

Read More

Allie Merola, Editor

Allie Merola acquires fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for Viking Penguin and Penguin Poets. She is interested in literary and upmarket fiction with a distinctive voice and pitch; mystery and suspense novels with complex, unusual characters and a strong sense of place; narrative, idea-driven, and multidisciplinary nonfiction and essays across a wide range of subjects—including youth…

Read More

Jenn Houghton, Publishing Associate

Jenn Houghton (she/her) joined Viking Penguin in October 2021 and assists Brian Tart. She graduated with a Creative Writing B.A. from William Paterson University, which she earned while managing a retail business in Montclair, New Jersey. Moving on from small business, she entered the world of publishing with a passion for absurdist fiction, introspective narratives,…

Read More

Ibrahim Ahmad, Executive Editor

Ibrahim Ahmad joined Viking as executive editor in 2021. His nonfiction interests include current affairs, politics, history, science and technology, biography, business, and pop culture. He also publishes an eclectic array of literary fiction and crime fiction, with a particular focus on incendiary, urgent voices that subvert and expand the existing literature. His first title…

Read More

Nidhi Pugalia, Editor

Nidhi Pugalia joined Viking Penguin in 2019, after beginning her editorial career at Grand Central Publishing. In fiction, she is drawn to lyrical writing and propulsive plotting in the speculative, grounded science fiction/fantasy, and magical realism spaces with a particular emphasis on books that can cross with other categories like romance, historical fiction, psychological suspense,…

Read More

Marie Michels, Editor

Marie Michels (she/her) joined Pamela Dorman Books in 2020, after beginning her career in literary agencies. She has been fortunate to work with a wide range of authors, from New York Times bestsellers Ashley Audrain and Clare Pooley to the late, revered spy novelist John le Carré. She is a graduate of the University of…

Read More