At David Higham Associates, we’re always on the hunt for passionate readers who are ready to start their career in the publishing industry.
We see paid internships as a key pathway for candidates who need to earn a living while they build experience, and offer a fair salary as standard. We are keen to attract applications from candidates from under-represented backgrounds in our shared aim to make publishing a more diverse and fully representative industry.
Our Books department internships are usually offered on a six-monthly basis, to give as many candidates as possible the chance to take their first step into the industry but also to ensure they have the opportunity to take on varied responsibilities.
Typically Books interns manage our submissions inbox, read and report on manuscripts, assist one of our book agents with client-related tasks, help out the translation rights team, fulfil permission requests, help organise our occasional Open Day events and attend and minute Books department meetings amongst other tasks.
Interns also undertake a variety of office tasks and act as receptionist, answering our phone line and greeting visitors.
Interns leave DHA with a good insight into all the functions of an agency and a developed sense of which role interests and suits them best. We mentor our interns with one-to-one sessions throughout their tenure and assist them as they start their permanent job search. We are extremely proud of the varied, exciting roles our interns have gone on to secure since our internship programme was initiated over a decade ago – including several who are now permanent DHA staff.
This is how some of our talented alumnae have summarised their experience with us:
Anna Barnes, Head of Picture Books at Puffin:
I loved my time interning at David Higham. I learned so much about the industry – from big, fundamental things like how contracts work and how agents and publishers work together to find, launch and nurture authors and illustrators; to small but crucial things like how to write a good email. It was the best possible start to my publishing career.
Aimée Felone, Managing Director of Knights Of, British Books Awards 2022 Children’s Publisher of the Year:
I honestly look back at my time as an intern at DHA with such fond memories! Getting the (paid!) opportunity to work at such an illustrious literary agency gave me the much needed skills and confidence to start formulating my ideas of what I wanted my career to look like and what I wanted my impact in this industry to be.
Rebecca Jamieson, Editor at HQ:
My experience interning at David Higham Associates was invaluable. Not only did I meet some of the most amazing people and brilliant minds, but it gave me an extraordinarily helpful introduction to the publishing industry and agenting. The internship is what you make of it, so if you put yourself forward and get involved, you can learn so much – you could be working on inspiring projects, like the DHA Open Days for Under-represented Writers, or reading submissions and writing reader reports for agents, alongside the internship duties required. For anyone trying to break into the industry, I highly recommend applying to this internship at DHA.
Launched in 2018, the DHA Open Days aim to demystify the industry, and support writers from under-represented backgrounds to gain valuable industry knowledge and develop their work. We run Open Days for adult literary and commercial fiction and also for scriptwriters.
Our 2023 Open Day built on the success of previous years, inviting ten exceptional writers to take part in a day of free workshops and seminars from authors, editors, and leading industry professionals, alongside an in-depth 1-1 feedback session on their submitted work with a DHA agent.
Check back here for news of the next Open Day or follow us on X for the latest info.
Book Agent’s Assistant / general assistant to a literary agency
Salary: from £27,000 depending on experience
Closing date: Wednesday 7th January 2026
David Higham Associates is one of the world’s leading literary agencies, and this year celebrated ninety years at the forefront of the international literary and publishing landscape.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an assistant to support DHA’s senior non-fiction agents alongside another more experienced assistant. This role would suit someone looking for their first permanent assisting role in publishing but who may have experience as an intern, through work experience or in another field. DHA welcomes and encourages applications from any individual regardless of ethnic origin, gender, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age. All applicants will be considered on merit.
DHA represents a broad range of outstanding non-fiction authors. You will be working with some of the biggest names in non-fiction – from prestige estates to chart-topping bestsellers, artists and historians, to politicians and activists. Recent bestsellers have included new books by Robert Macfarlane, Damien Lewis and Nicola Sturgeon.
Responsibilities will include plenty of client and publisher contact, day-to-day administrative assistance, the creation and maintenance of website and database entries, processing contracts, tracking publication details, liaising with our film and translation teams, as well as reading and reporting on new manuscripts and proposals. Everyday duties will be a combination of administrative and creative. There will be a lot of opportunity to learn about the business as you will spend time in other departments with up to two days a week initially spent assisting the accounts team, the rights teams and on general work for the books department. This busy full-time role provides an exciting opportunity for someone with energy and initiative.
This is an ideal job for someone with office experience and a passion for books. Previous experience in the publishing industry would be beneficial, but we are able to be flexible for the right candidate. What we are looking for above all is someone with exceptional organisation and communication skills, an appetite to learn, and a positive attitude.
Our offices are based in Soho. Working hours are 9.15am-5.30pm, Monday to Friday. Please note that this is a full-time role and you will be expected to work a minimum of three days a week in the office and in the first year four days a week.
We are a company that takes pride in creating a supportive and collaborative environment where employees work towards individual and company goals as well as towards attaining a good level of autonomy in their roles, with training.
To apply, please email your CV and covering letter via email to Esme Bright at David Higham Associates (esmebright@davidhigham.co.uk). Please include your name in the subject line of the email. We would be interested to know why you are looking for work at a literary agency and your letter should include a paragraph about a non-fiction book you have read recently and how you responded to it; and why you are drawn to working on non-fiction titles.
We offer expenses for travel to London to attend interview. Please let us know if you require any accessibility adjustments during the interview process.