Meru Gokhale of Penguin Random House India announces her departure; Milee Ashwarya to take over

After 18 years in the company, Meru Gokhale, publisher, Penguin Press Group, Penguin Random House India, announced her departure at the end of the year, citing “new creative and entrepreneurial” pursuits. She will, however, continue her association as a consultant, working directly with Gaurav Shrinagesh, CEO, Penguin Random House India & SEA.
Milee Ashwarya, who has supervised the Penguin imprints of Ebury Publishing and Vintage, will now be publisher, PRH India Adult Publishing.
Manasi Subramaniam, who has been the editor behind some of the publishing house’s recent award-winning titles, including Tomb of Sand Geetanjali Shree and The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida Shehan Karunatilaka, winners of the International Booker Prize 2022 and Booker Prize 2022 respectively, will be taking over as editor-in-chief for Penguin Press.
Announcing her exit, Gokhale tweeted, “I joined when I was 24 years old, and more or less grew up with the colleagues and authors that make up the company’s past, present, and future. Most of all, I have learned from my authors… some of the most brilliant minds of our time, such as Jhumpa Lahiri, Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, Sudha Murty, Nandan Nilekani, Devdutt Pattanaik, Amitav Ghosh, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Ramachandra Guha.”
Commenting on the changes, Shrinagesh said in a statement, “Meru’s contribution has been invaluable to the company, and while I am excited for her as she ventures into a new phase of her career, we have mutually decided to continue her association with Penguin as a consultant, working directly with me. Having worked with Milee for many years, I am confident in her converting our vision of being home to the most eclectic and inspiring publishing ls in the country into reality. I would also like to congratulate Manasi as she steps into a new role to build an even more enviable l for our editorial group.”