Anne Collins is the executive editor of Random House Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada, and has been a vice president of the company since 1998. She spent 23 years as the publisher of Random House Canada, adding responsibility for Knopf Canada in 2009. We’re fortunate to have showcased many of the stellar authors she’s worked with, including these CanLit superstars appearing at the 2025 Imaginairium and in standalone Wordfest shows this fall: Cherie Dimaline, Chris Hadfield, Brian Thomas Isaac, Linden MacIntyre, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Merilyn Simonds, and Ian Williams.

Before moving over to book publishing, Collins spent 20 years as an award-winning writer and magazine editor. She is the also the author of two acclaimed books of non-fiction: The Big Evasion (1985), the first and only Canadian history of the abortion issue, and In the Sleep Room: The Story of the CIA Brainwashing Experiments in Canada, which won the 1988 Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-fiction. In 2019, she was honoured to receive the Ivy Award for “extraordinary contribution to publishing in Canada.” She lives with her family on a farm north of Whitby, Ontario.