Crown taps Washington Post’s Sikka as executive editor

Award-winning journalist Madhulika Sikka will be joining Crown as an executive editor next month. There, she will acquire and develop books on subjects ranging from politics to entertainment.

Crown executive vice president and publisher David Drake said:

“I have long admired Madhulika’s finely honed journalistic instinct for great stories, as well as her unwavering commitment to advancing and creating opportunity for new voices and perspectives.

“Throughout her career, she has also been a generous and discerning champion of books and authors across many genres, and I’m confident she will not only attract great talent in her new role but also enrich and expand our publishing horizons.”

Currently, Sikka is an executive producer at The Washington Post where she created the Post’s flagship daily podcast and hired a host and staff. In this role, she is also overseeing editorial direction and managing staff and coordination.

Sikka has also worked on her own as EP, project manager, editorial lead and creative consultant. The projects included multimedia editorial, talent search, newsroom strategy and content creation for clients like PBS Newshour, IAC/The Daily Beast, Participant Media and Penguin Random House.

She was also VP and executive editor at Mic. Sikka has also served as an executive producer at NPR, overseeing reporters and editors across multiple specialty areas of reporting and managing responsibility for broad direction of news coverage across the division and across platforms among other tasks.

She has also held the post of executive producer, Morning Edition at NPR and was a senior producer at ABC News.

Sikka is a B.A. in economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is also MPhil in economic and political development from Cambridge University.