EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Editorial & Marketing Assistant Molly O'Laughlin

Welcome back to the Overlook Press Employee Spotlight Series! Looking for some insight into how the publishing process works? You've come to the right place. Over the last year and a half we've introduced designers, contract managers, editors, sales staff, and publicists, all in the hopes of better acquainting blog readers with our team, as well as educating fans about the methods behind our bookish madness.

It's been a few months since we last introduced Overlook editor Mark Krotov, but today we're delighted to revive the regular feature that takes you behind the scenes at 141 Wooster Street, as we shine the spotlight on one of Overlook's most recent acquisitions, editorial and marketing assistant Molly O'Laughlin.

Kansas City native Molly O'Laughlin joined Overlook last month, having worked previously at Maria B. Campbell Associates, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Books of Wonder, and Archipelago Books. She loves KC barbecue and tiramisu, and will watch the same move five times in a row if she likes it enough (*ahem* Pitch Perfect *ahem*).

OP: Describe your job in 140 characters or less.

MO: I get to indulge my obsessive tendencies with detail work in both departments, read good books and work with wonderful people. #dreamjob!

OP: What are you currently reading?

MO: Besides submissions, I'm reading HOW THE FRENCH INVENTED LOVE by Marilyn Yalom, and TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis (because really it's shameful that I haven't yet read it).

OP: What is your favorite book that Overlook has published?

MO: I'm obsessed with THE CIRCLE by Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg (forthcoming in May, is that cheating?) and ST. TRINIAN'S by Ronald Searle—sinister schoolgirls all the way. 

OP: If you didn't work in publishing, what would you be doing? 

MO: I'd probably be working at an arts non-profit or back in academia. Like George, I sing in a choir (Grace Church Choral Society), so maybe I'd even be singing...!

OP: What is your favorite word (can be in any language—bonus points if there is a funny/interesting story behind it)?

MO: I love the word "supper." I feel like I only ever hear my Oklahoman grandparents use it anymore, so it has all these nice, warm, homey connotations for me. Plus, supper/dinner is the best meal of the day!