Crown Fiction

Amy Einhorn, Senior Vice President and Publisher, Fiction, has published and edited many New York Times bestselling fiction authors, including #1 bestselling author Liane Moriarty, Chris Whitaker, National Book nominee Min Jin Lee, Virginia Evans, Jeanine Cummins, Kathryn Stockett, Laurie Frankel, Alice Feeney, Yangsze Choo, Kristin Harmel, and Fran Littlewood, as well as nonfiction authors such as Jenny Lawson, Amy Sedaris, and Isaac Mizrahi. Amy was President at Henry Holt & Co. and Publisher at Flatiron Books, where she directed the acquisition and publication of New York Times bestselling authors Alison Espach, S. A. Cosby, Amy Tintera, Charlotte McConaghy, Jane Harper, Chandler Baker, Stephanie Garber, and Melissa Albert. She previously had an eponymous imprint, Amy Einhorn Books, at Penguin Random House. A mother of three, she is a newly obsessive dog mom (shout-out to Ziggy Stardust).

Annsley Rosner is Senior Vice President and Deputy Publisher of Crown and Crown Currency. As Deputy Publisher, she works on all aspects of the Crown and Crown Currency programs, overseeing frontlist and backlist strategy and operations, to launch books, position them in the marketplace, and set them up for long-term success. She works closely with cross-functional teams in editorial, marketing, publicity, sales, consumer insights, and inventory to create impactful, innovative campaigns. Annsley has been at Penguin Random House for more than twenty-three years—with prior positions including senior publicity roles at Crown, Dutton, and Vintage Books—and has worked with a wide range of bestselling authors including former President George W. Bush, former President Barack Obama, Erik Larson, Matthew Desmond, former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Ben Macintyre, Gillian Flynn, Sally Rooney, Rebecca Skloot, Liane Moriarty, and Chris Whitaker, among many others.

Peter Joseph, Vice President and Editorial Director, was most recently the founding editorial director of Hanover Square Press, an imprint of HarperCollins. Prior to that, he was an Executive Editor at Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, where he launched the Tony Hillerman Prize with Anne Hillerman. He has published bestselling and award-winning novels in a broad range of genres, such as Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s six-million-copy international bestseller Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Madeline Martin’s New York Times bestseller The Last Bookshop in London, Michel Faber’s inventive literary novel D (A Tale of Two Worlds), John Marrs’s sci-fi thriller The One, Randy Wayne White’s thriller One Deadly Eye, and Steve Hamilton’s Edgar Award–-winning The Lock Artist. On the nonfiction side, he has worked with notable authors such as CNN’s Dana Bash, 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley, Rick Ross, and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Shannon Criss is a Senior Editor at Crown. Before joining the Crown Publishing Group, she held editorial roles at Harlequin, Diversion Books, and Henry Holt, working with acclaimed and New York Times bestselling authors including Katherine Howe and Jodi Ellen Malpas, as well as award-winning author Donna Hill. Her interests span historical, contemporary, and slightly speculative book-club and upmarket fiction, and she is particularly drawn to mysteries and psychological thrillers with a moody, atmospheric edge. A proud HBCU graduate, Shannon supports novels that explore the complexities of identity, particularly those centered on outsiders, and gravitates toward stories that spark meaningful, sometimes challenging, but ultimately life-affirming, conversations. A forthcoming title on her list, American Nightmare by Kelly McWilliams, is a powerful example of this intersection.

Lori Kusatzky (she / her), Editor, was previously at Henry Holt for three years, before joining Crown in 2023 to restart the fiction list under Amy Einhorn. Since coming to Crown, Lori has published Vanessa McCausland’s The Last Illusion of Paige White—a New York Times “Best New Thriller of 2025 (so far)”—Virginia Trench’s Our Secrets Were Safe, and the USA Today bestseller The Letter Carrier by Francesca Giannone (translated from Italian). Lori’s upcoming projects include podcaster and comedian Brooke Averick’s debut Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It and Saki Kawashiro’s The Ex-Boyfriend’s Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee (translated from Japanese). While at Henry Holt, she worked with authors Alison Espach, Liane Moriarty, and Andy Cohen, and published Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie (adapted from her Tony-winning Broadway show of the same name). She has also held positions at Abrams Artists Agency and Innovative Artists Agency. She is a PW Star Watch honoree and a University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumna.

Austin Parks is a graduate of the University of Virginia and New York University School of Law. She joined Crown’s fiction team in 2024 and supports Senior Vice President and Publisher Amy Einhorn. Previously, Austin worked as an assistant at a boutique literary agency in New York.

Mattie Townson joined Crown’s fiction team in September 2025 and supports Senior Editor Shannon Criss and Editorial Director Peter Joseph. Previously, Mattie was an assistant at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. She is originally from Louisville, Kentucky; graduated from the King’s College, New York City, and the Columbia Publishing Course; and now lives in Brooklyn.

Michelle Giuseffi, Associate Director, Publishing, oversees various operational processes for frontlist and backlist titles on the Crown and Crown Currency lists. Michelle also works closely with our sales team and external retail partners on B2B strategy for both imprints. In collaboration with the inventory team, Michelle helps to make sure Crown and Crown Currency books remain in stock and ready for readers to enjoy. Previously, she worked in marketing at the Penguin Publishing Group.

Christopher Brand is Vice President and Creative Director at Crown. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2007 and has worked at Penguin Random House since 2008. His design work has been recognized by the Art Directors Club, AIGA, Type Directors Club, AI-AP, PRINT magazine, and the New York Times.

Julie Cepler is Vice President and Director of Marketing of Crown and Special Projects, where she leads strategy to drive consumer awareness, reader engagement, and sales across Crown’s roster of titles. During her  twenty years at Penguin Random House, she has worked across genres, shaping campaigns and building author brands. She has had the honor of championing bestselling works by authors including former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush, Timothy Snyder, Matthew McConaughey, Susan Cain, Erik Larson, Rick Atkinson, Matthew Desmond, Javier Zamora, Liane Moriarty, Chris Whitaker, Gillian Flynn, Andy Weir, Blake Crouch, and Sally Rooney.

Dyana Messina is Vice President and Director of Publicity for Crown. Joining Crown after completing her master’s in publishing, she has spent twenty years in various senior roles in the publicity department, where she has worked on a broad range of both fiction and nonfiction titles, developing and executing high-profile media and event strategies. She has worked with numerous award-winning and bestselling authors including former President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush, Matthew McConaughey, Bruce Springsteen, Rachel Maddow, Timothy Snyder, Tom Reiss, Ben Macintyre, David Wallace-Wells, Terry McMillan, Sally Rooney, Gillian Flynn, Liane Moriarty, and Chris Whitaker.

Rachel Berkowitz is Vice President and Director of Subsidiary Rights at the Crown Publishing Group, where she oversees domestic and foreign rights across all imprints. Rachel brings expertise in licensing across categories such as business, science, history, memoir, narrative nonfiction, self-help, cookery, gift, and both commercial and literary fiction. Since joining Crown in 2009, she has negotiated rights deals for a wide range of bestselling and influential authors, including Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, George W. Bush, Deepak Chopra, Ai Weiwei, Greg McKeown, Martha Stewart, Matty Matheson, Peter Attia, Gillian Flynn, Andy Weir, and the forthcoming Empyrean Graphic series by Rebecca Yarros. She and the rights team also represent CPG at major international book fairs. Prior to joining Crown, she was a literary book and film scout for more than a decade.