At David Higham Associates, we’re always on the hunt for passionate readers and screen enthusiasts who are ready to start their career in the publishing or film/TV industry.

We see paid internships as a key pathway into the industry 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 internships, one in the Books department and one in the TV, Film & Stage department, 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 Open Day events and attend and minute Books department meetings amongst other tasks.

Our TV, Film & Stage interns record submissions to producers, create pitch materials for our books, manage social media posts, read and report on scripts and take minutes in departmental and producer meetings, amongst other jobs.

Both interns undertake a variety of office tasks and act as receptionist, answering our phone line.

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 since gone on to secure since our internship programme was initiated over a decade ago – not least that, as of spring 2024, no fewer than four of our current permanent staff began as interns.

This is how some of our talented alumnae have summarised their experience with us at DHA:

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.

Translation Rights Intern (Full-time 6-month FTC) 

Deadline for all applications: Thursday 30thth January 2025 at 11.59pm

Salary: £ 26,000 per annum

Location: our offices are based in central London (Soho). You would be expected to work a minimum of four days a week in the office, with some working from home flexibility for one day a week.

DHA is looking for an organised, enthusiastic, and creative intern to join the Translation Team on a full-time fixed term (6 months) contract to start as soon as possible. This will be a busy role providing general administrative support for the adult rights team.

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.

The successful candidate will have a sharp eye for detail and will be confident managing a high volume of work. You will be a fast learner who is keen to support a busy, ambitious team and happy to pitch in where necessary. You will have excellent communication and administrative skills. Knowledge of Microsoft Office is required. Some previous experience in a publisher or an agency is helpful but not necessary.

This is an exciting and unique opportunity for someone wanting to learn more about selling international rights whilst developing their administrative skills.

Responsibilities

Administrative:

• Tracking contracts, logging deals and interest, submissions, and publisher details on our database.
• Managing cover approvals, providing materials to publishers
• Liaising with clients and the accounts department on invoices/payment chasing.
• Saving material on a database and keeping files in clear order.
• Handling post, author copies, book orders.
• Scheduling meetings for bookfairs and trips

Departmental and company tasks:

• Supporting building rights guides for bookfairs and trips and handling all associated admin
• Preparing newsletters and updating social media
• Managing reversions
• Updating rights website

Authors:

• Reading books and feeding back on manuscripts
• Handling enquiries about translation rights sales
• Preparing marketing materials for the same as needed
• Creating publication roundups

Knowledge, skills, experience

Essential:

• Experience in a support role, ideally in a related industry
• Administrative experience including diary management, computer and database skills
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office
• Adaptability and ability to juggle multiple projects and independently prioritise workload
• Meticulous attention to detail
• Excellent organisational and record-keeping skills
• Self-motivated and able to take initiative
• A love for books and an interest in literature in translation

Desirable:

• Language skills
• Confidence working directly with internal staff at all levels, clients and outside partners
• Excellent communication skills; in-person, on the phone and on video calls
• Diplomacy, tact and discretion

To apply

Please send your CV and covering letter to Giulia Bernabè (giuliabernabe@davidhigham.co.uk). Please include your name in the subject line of the email. We offer expenses for travel to London to attend interviews. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments during the interview process.

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.

We welcome questions relating to the job or to your application if you email us at giuliabernabe@davidhigham.co.uk