Publishing Editor Chantelle Aimée Osman and Writer Simon Winchester Have Died

Chantelle Aimée Osman, a senior editor at Simon Maverick, has died, according to Publishers Lunch, a trade newsletter that covers the business of books. The report was published on 5 November 2026.

Osman worked on the acquiring side of publishing, which means she was one of the editors who decide which manuscripts a publisher buys. She started as an acquiring editor at Amazon Publishing, the book arm of the online retailer. She joined Simon Maverick last year.

Earlier, she was the founding editor of Agora Books, an imprint (a named label run within a larger publisher) of Polis Books. A founding editor sets up a list from the first title onward. Osman also co-authored books including The Awakened and The Rejects.

She also worked in comics. Simon & Schuster's author page for her lists Dick Tracy Veterans Day Special, written by Alex Segura, Michael Moreci and Keir Graff, and her editor profile names her creative consultant on the reimagined Dick Tracy comic.

Chris Lynch, president and publisher of Simon & Schuster Audio, wrote that Osman championed works by underrepresented writers. He also described her as a valued member of the company's US Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council.

Simon Winchester also died. The New York Times reported on 4 November 2026 that he was 82. Winchester trained as a geologist before he became a journalist, and he later wrote full-time as a author of narrative nonfiction, which is factual writing told like a story.

His best-known book is The Professor and the Madman. His more recent titles include The Perfectionists and Land. Readers who came to his work through those books will find them still on the shelf.

Osman's colleagues and the readers she helped bring books to are now remembering her work, and Winchester's readers are doing the same for his. Both deaths are a loss to the people who worked with them and to the books they helped make.