NOP is a boutique literary press in Nottingham that believes itself to be more glamorous than it is. Revealing ourselves through diaries, emails, memos, sketches and the haunting illustrations of Paul Warren, our website reveals the fragile egos, misplaced ambitions and occasional moments of grace within a small creative company trying to survive the modern publishing world: all whilst trying to sell a few books into the bargain. Here’s our team!
Julian Pilkington‑Sterne: Marketing Executive
Julian: grandiloquent dreamer and romantic misinterpreter who turns every task into a tragic performance. Believes Helvetica can heal the world.
Educated at Ripon and York St John, Julian is a distant relation to the Pilkington glass family. Joined NOP after a short and catastrophic spell in corporate branding
Eleanor Wheeler: In house Editor
Eleanor: dry, sharp, fiercely intelligent; Eleanor is the emotional anchor of NOP, secretly fond of the chaos she complains about. She is the quiet architect of NOP’s literary output. While Nick supplies the vision and Julian supplies the chaos, Eleanor supplies the coherence. She is the one who actually reads every submission, fixes every contract, and writes the elegant paragraphs that make Nick’s press releases sound sane. She’s a ruthless editor but not an unkind one — her red pen bleeds clarity, not cruelty. Among her colleagues she is nicknamed ‘The Metronome’ for her calm pacing and unnerving ability to bring every meeting back to reality.
Alex Moore: Senior Editor
Alexander: calm, quietly heroic, often caught between management pragmatism and human empathy.
Maja Jović: Intern
Born in Novi Sad, Serbia, Maja holds an MA in Translation and Cultural Studies from the University of Nottingham. She’s a distant relative of tennis player Novak Djokovic, although she avoids the subject. Observant, unimpressed, unexpectedly poetic in her silence.
Clare Thompson: Front‑of‑House Reception
Elegant, articulate, unflappable. Carries herself like a player between points: composed, centred, slightly amused at the chaos around her. Known for immaculate timing, both in speech and action. She never raises her voice; she just looks at the phone and it rings less. She is a former semi‑pro tennis player whose shoulder injury ended a promising career. Transitioned into arts administration before joining NOP.
Paul Warren: Illustrator-in-Residence
Reclusive, perceptive, and unnervingly intuitive. Communicates mostly through sketches pinned to the noticeboard. His work often predicts events before they happen — or reveals truths no one dares to say aloud.
Nick Owen; Founder, Publisher, Author
Charismatic visionary whose bursts of inspiration leave everyone else to clean up the ink. Believes he runs a Renaissance studio, not an office.
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