Lara Heimert to Retire as Publisher of Basic Books Group

BRIAN DISTELBERG WILL SUCCEED HEIMERT AS LEADER OF THE NON-FICTION PUBLISHING GROUP

NEW YORK (April 14, 2026) — Hachette Book Group (HBG) announced today that, effective June 5, Lara Heimert will be retiring from her position as President & Publisher of the Basic Books Group (BBG), a group of six imprints focused on high-quality non-fiction by expert authors. She will be succeeded as President and Publisher by Brian J. Distelberg, who is currently the group’s VP & Associate Publisher.  

“I’m hugely grateful to Lara for 21 years of incredible publishing. She leaves us a legacy of books that are foremost in their fields, and she also leaves us after a record-breaking 2025 for the Basic Books Group: heartening both for us as a company and for everyone who cares about the market for quality non-fiction publishing,” said Hachette Book Group CEO David Shelley. “And I’m so pleased to announce Brian Distelbergas Lara’s successor. I’m very much looking forward to working more closely with Brian, who has proved himself as a thoughtful, smart, highly market-aware editor and publisher, and who I know will lead the fantastic Basic Books Group team to new heights.” 

Heimert joined Basic Books in 2005 as Executive Editor and became Publisher in 2012. She subsequently added Seal Press to her remit and created Basic Books UK in conjunction with John Murray Press. In 2023, Heimert took on responsibility for PublicAffairs and Bold Type Books; in 2024 she created the new imprints Basic Liberty and Basic Venture and became President of the newly formed Basic Books Group. 

As an editor and publisher, Heimert has brought scores of best-selling and prize-winning authors to the Basic Books Group, including Akhil Reed Amar, Edward E. Baptist, Arthur C. Brooks, Victor Davis Hanson, Tom Holland, Serhii Plokhy, Neil Price, Heather Cox Richardson, Eugene Rogan, Lyndal Roper, and Timothy Snyder. 

“I have been incredibly lucky to spend the last twenty-one years working with some of the smartest scholars in the world, and alongside a brilliant group of colleagues. It is largely because of BBG’s extraordinary team that I feel comfortable stepping away and letting the next generation carry the mission forward,” Heimert said. “I couldn’t be more thrilled that Brian Distelberg will be my successor – I have worked with him for a decade and know him to be a leader of exquisite taste, judgment, and ethics. I am certain that the Basic Books Group will become even stronger and smarter with him at the helm.”  

Distelberg is a fifteen-year publishing veteran. He joined Basic Books in 2015 from Harvard University Press, and he became VP, Associate Publisher of Basic Books Group in 2024. As an editor, he has published multiple New York Times bestsellers and Pulitzer Prize winners, as well as winners of and finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the RFK Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Wolfson History Prize, the Cundill History Prize, and the National Jewish Book Award. He also holds a PhD in history from Yale University. 

“I’m immensely grateful to David Shelley for his strong support of Basic Books Group’s publishing and to Lara for her years of visionary leadership and the legacy of excellence she leaves,” Distelberg said. “I’m excited to lead the talented Basic Books Group team to continued success and further growth by staying true to the values that have animated Basic for more than 75 years. As publishers of enduring books that emergefrom authentic human expertise and deep research and reporting, our six imprints have a tremendous opportunity to serve readers who hunger for an alternative to AI summaries, addictive algorithms, and ephemeral content.” 

About Basic Books Group: 

The Basic Books Group is dedicated to making the world smarter by publishing works of serious non-fiction by expert authors. The group includes Basic Books, Seal Press, PublicAffairs, Bold Type Books, Basic Venture, and Basic Liberty. 

Since its founding in 1950, Basic Books has shaped public debate by publishing award-winning books in history, science, politics, biography, and psychology.  Seal Press, founded in 1976, publishes enduring works of feminist non-fiction. Since its founding in 1997, PublicAffairs has been publishing prize-winning and bestselling works of serious non-fiction, with a focus on current affairs, public policy, foreign affairs, and technology. Bold Type Books challenges power through narrative by publishing works of urgent and ambitious journalism. Created in 2024, Basic Venture publishes experts in economics and business. Basic Liberty is dedicated to publishing serious works of cultural, social, and political analysis by conservative intellectuals. As a whole, the Basic Books Group is dedicated to the proposition that ideas matter. 

About Hachette Book Group:  

Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading U.S. general-interest book publisher made up of dozens of esteemed imprints within the publishing groups Basic Books Group, Grand Central Publishing Group, Hachette Audio, Little, Brown and Company, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Orbit; Workman Publishing; and Running Press Group. We also provide custom distribution, fulfillment, and sales services to several publishing companies.  

Our books and authors have received the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, Booker Prize, Nobel Peace Prize, James Beard Award, and other major honors.   

We are committed to diversity in our company and our publishing programs, and to fostering a culture of inclusion for all our employees and authors. We are proud to be part of Hachette Livre, the world’s third-largest trade and educational publisher.   

Visit hachettebookgroup.com to learn more about HBG imprints. For updated news follow HBG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Threads, TikTok, X.com, Snapchat, and YouTube.  

Press Contact: Gabrielle Gambrell, Chief Communications Officer, gabrielle.gambrell@hbgusa.com