Three years after our successful move into the heart of Oxford, we are delighted to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the European office of av福利社. From a staff of three when the office was opened in January 1999, we have now grown a team of 25, the majority of whom are based out of our office on Banbury Road.
Having started with a small editorial and publicity team, we have now expanded to include editorial, publicity, sales, marketing, rights, digital and audio. Members of the office are also actively engaged with sustainability, equity and inclusion, and accessibility initiatives; a range of employee resource groups; and our mentoring programme. For the second year running we are looking forward to welcoming a Princeton Global Fellow to the office in July.
Celebrations for the 25th anniversary are planned throughout the year and include a website feature about the books that have had particular resonance in Europe over our last 25 years, with reminiscences from staff that worked on them. Additionally, we have more than 20 authors speaking at the 2024 Oxford Literary Festiva, including Verity Harding, who was recently profiled in and named to the list; Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell; Claudia de Rahm; Peter K. Andersson; Martin Hellwig; and Anat Admati.
In March our rights team will host a lunch with agents at our office. This will be the first time we have brought rights agents from around the world together and we are very much looking forward to the opportunity this gives for us all to learn from each other. In May the Press will have a major presence at the University Press Redux conference in Edinburgh, with director Christie Henry giving the keynote address and a number of European staff also involved with programming. Co-head of PUP Europe Caroline Priday will chair a panel on collaborations and Kim Williams, co-head of PUP Europe and digital and audio publisher, will speak on accessibility. Our head of publicity, Kate Farquhar-Thomson, will present on publicity initiatives.
Throughout the year we will be hosting a series of talks by authors based in Europe, which offers us an excellent opportunity to make the most of our new office space. We will also be supporting the European Festivals Forest with the planting of 25 trees for 25 years鈥攕ilver birches, of course! The final celebration of the year will be a party at the European office in September following a meeting of our European Advisory Board. This will include current and former staff and other friends of the Press. We look forward to welcoming people into our wonderful office and gardens, to toast to 25 wonderful years and many global collaborations to come.