UQP Appoints New Publishing Director

After an extensive recruitment process, UQP has appointed Ben Ball as Publishing Director. He will take over from Madonna Duffy who assumed the role of UQP Director in late 2025.

After almost three decades in publishing in the UK and Australia, including Penguin Random House and, most recently, Simon & Schuster, Ben brings a passion for literary publishing and an enviable track record to his new role.

UQP Director Madonna Duffy says, ‘Ben’s literary pedigree from his early publishing years at London’s Granta Books to his work at PRH publishing authors from Peter Carey, Tim Winton and Nam Le and more recent success at Simon & Schuster with Don Watson and Chloe Hooper offers an ideal alignment with UQP’s reputation for high-quality Australian writing. He brings an independent publisher’s spirit with extensive knowledge of large publishing operations as well as a keen vision for UQP’s future publishing.’

Ben Ball says, ‘For almost eighty years UQP has been the cradle of Australian literature. It's an enormous privilege to join a publishing house with such a rich past and such a brilliant present under Madonna, Aviva Tuffield, Cathy Vallance and the whole talented team. UQP believes in the transformative power of our stories; in literary excellence; and in the thrilling diversity of Australian voices. Now more than ever these values serve as a beacon for writers, readers and (I can attest) editors, so I'm enormously excited at the prospect of being part of UQP's even brighter future’.

Ben will be acquiring non-fiction and fiction for UQP’s adult list, with an emphasis on non-fiction. He will commence work at UQP on Monday 27th April and can be contacted at ben.ball@uqp.com.au. He will work one week a month in UQP’s Magandjjin/Brisbane head office and will otherwise be based in Naarm/Melbourne.

For more information, please contact UQP’s Marketing and Publicity Manager Jean Smith on jean.smith@uqp.com.au.