Dundurn Press Ltd is delighted to announce that Akin Akinwumi has joined the acquisitions team as Editor-at-Large.
Akin Akinwumi - Editor-at-Large
Akin Akinwumi, formerly of Willenfield Literary Agency, is known for championing innovative and daring writing and has worked with exciting writers from around the world. At Dundurn, Akin will acquire ambitious, intellectually bold fiction and nonfiction, including rediscovered classics. He is particularly interested in novels, short story collections, book-length essays, memoir, biography, reportage, environmental narrative, science writing, travelogue, and cultural criticism. Akin looks for books that blend classic aesthetics with a fresh, contemporary sensibility, and that astonish with their vision and style.
“I am beyond thrilled to welcome Akin to the team,” writes Publisher Meghan Macdonald. “His brilliant and thoughtful approach to acquiring books will align with the Dundurn team and our publishing program.”
Akin joins the Dundurn Press and Rare Machines acquisitions team comprised of:
Russell Smith – Acquiring Editor
Russell is the author of twelve previous books of fiction, nonfiction, and translation. His fiction has been nominated for every major Canadian award, including the Giller Prize, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Amazon First Novel Award. A journalist and cultural commentator, his nonfiction has appeared in the New York Review of Books, the Globe and Mail, The Walrus, and elsewhere. His most recent book is entitled Self Care published by Biblioasis in September 2025.
Russell acquires literary fiction for the Rare Machines imprint and journalistic, researched nonfiction on any subject for Dundurn Press.
Kathryn Lane - Senior Editor
Kathryn has been working in publishing the bulk of her career. She spent over a decade in the UK where she was Senior Editor at Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Travel Guides and Managing Editor at Rough Guides. At Dundurn Press, she was Managing Editor and then Associate Publisher and is now a freelance editor specializing in trade nonfiction. Kathryn is very pleased to continue acquiring for Dundurn Press and to have the opportunity to work closely with authors.
Kathryn acquires nonfiction across a broad range of subjects including politics, local interest, wellness, history, and business. She is particularly interested in city development, our built heritage, personal finance, pop culture, and true crime.
Nicholas Freer – Editorial Assistant
Nicholas earned his Master’s degree in English Literature in 2020, and arrived at publishing via a circuitous route. From prepping service as a line cook to freelance editing to diving into the submissions inbox at Dundurn, what has remained constant is his abiding passion for stories and the written word.
Nicholas acquires literary and speculative fiction. He is looking for new voices or works that accomplish something new whether in character, structure, narrative, genre, or form. He also acquires compelling non-fiction in the realm of history, reportage, essay, travelogue, food, and politics.
Elena Radic - Managing Editor
After graduating from the University of Toronto with a specialist degree in English, Elena began her publishing career in Oxford University Press’s higher education department. In 2017, she joined Dundurn Press as project editor and, soon after, was named Managing Editor.
Elena acquires literary fiction, autofiction, essays, and memoir with themes focusing on women’s issues, class and immigrant experiences, the environment, and other social issues. She also acquires non-fiction works on nutrition and wellness, psychology and mental health, and parenting and family.
Meghan Macdonald – Publisher
Meghan’s eclectic career has led her down a number of different paths from academia to healthcare to investment finance to business. A graduate of Trinity College at the University of Toronto and York University with a Masters in Ancient History, specializing in gladiators in domestic Roman art, Meghan also worked as a literary agent with the Transatlantic Literary Agency from 2009-2013 and was honoured to be the Associate Director of Operations for Canada’s Guest of Honour presentation at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2020 and 2021.
Meghan acquires nonfiction in the areas of history, sports, current events, and public policy. She is looking for proposals and manuscripts that balance readability, narrative drive, and intellectualism.
Meghan also acquires fiction on a very selective basis for both the Rare Machines literary fiction imprint and Dundurn’s fiction list. She is looking for stories that hook and transport the reader and are beautifully and thoughtfully crafted with a focus on language, storytelling, and voice.