Meet Team Jacaranda | Kamillah Brandes, Editorial Manager Fiction
1.) Who are you and how long have you been at Jacaranda Books?
My name is Kamillah and I am the Editorial Manager for Fiction, but I also oversee production as well. I’ve been working at Jacaranda for 7 years.
2.) What drew you to the publishing industry?
I wasn’t really interested in publishing when I was in university (I studied communications and film). I was kind of ‘grandfathered’ into the industry, and I feel really lucky to have been working at Jacaranda for so long and getting to be able to do my part in the company.
3.) What is your favourite part of your job?
My favourite part of my job is seeing the finished book at the end of the editorial and production process. So much effort, time and care go into each of our books and it is a really good feeling to get that fresh new copy into the hands of the author and other readers.
4.) Jacaranda book’s motto is ‘bigger than books’ and part of that is our clear love for music - what does your current playlist sound like?
- Deep in the Willow by Knocked Loose
- Prey for Me by Dying Wish
- Steppa Pig by JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown
- The Powers That B by Death Grips
- CRIPSTIAN by Maxo Kream
- Hoy Aqui by Rauw Alejandro
- Reason to Believe by Joyce Manor
- Heaven by Mitski
- Swimming by Pinegrove
- Let Me Live by Duendit
5.) A book opener that you cannot get out of your head is?
‘Our family would have been perfect if…’
from Through the Leopard’s Gaze by Njambi McGrath
6.) The author of your lifetime is?
I feel lucky enough that there are still so many authors that I haven’t read and so many new aspects of authors to discover, that to pick one would narrow down the experience of my life all too sharply. That being said, Tracy Deonn, Ursula K. Le Guin, Keri Hulme, and Marlon James all hold special places in my heart.
7.) Your Jacaranda Holiday reading list look like?
I’m really looking forward to revisiting the following:
LOTE by Shola von Reinhold
Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejide
Adua by Igiaba Scego