About us
Durnell Marketing was founded in 1984 by Andrew Durnell. Over the years he grew the company and developed a strong client base before retiring in 2018. James Dunphy, Timur Sayfullin and Thibault Appell took the reins in 2018, and since then the company has focused on modernising and adapting to fit the needs of an ever-changing industry in the 21st century, while upholding the high standards and principles upon which the company was founded.
Meet the team below!
Our people
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James Dunphy
Managing Director
James joined Durnell Marketing in 2015 as a European Sales Representative, fresh after finishing an undergraduate degree in French and Spanish Translation and Interpreting from the University of Portsmouth.
In 2018, after a career break which involved volunteering in Bangladesh, travelling across South America, and working in the Swiss Alps, James took on the role of Director of Operations, being the main contact point at the office for most of our client publishers, as well as taking over the responsibility of HR and staff management.
When he’s not in the office, he’s usually found on a squash court, bouldering or rock climbing with friends, or nerding out reading books about etymology and quirky foreign languages.
He speaks fluent French, Spanish and English.
James’ favourite fiction title of all time: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
Non-fiction: Lingo by Gaston Dorrens
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Thibault Appell
Commercial Director
Thibault joined Durnell Marketing in January 2016 after finishing City University’s International Publishing MA. Before that, he was a bookseller in France while studying French, US and British Literature, Arts and Civilisations. He crossed the channel in 2011 to work in several great places -the French Bookshop, Waterstones, and Foyles- and settled down as European sales agent after gaining experience at HarperCollins, Hodder and Hachette.
Taking care of France, Switzerland, and a fair share of the Nordic and Balkan countries, he also manages systems development, data insight and finance supervision.
Thibault speaks French and English, and when not at work likes to read, cook, travel and see, watch and listen to art in all its shapes. His favourite book is Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s Terre des Hommes (Wind, Sand and Stars) on par with any of John Eisner or Joe Sacco’s works.
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Timur Sayfullin
Business Development Director
Timur joined Durnell Marketing in 2011 as Territory Manager responsible for driving sales throughout Central and Eastern Europe, a key role he still holds alongside his new position as Business Development Director.
Before joining the publishing industry, Timur worked in the retail division of a bank. He graduated with an MSc in International Business Management from Bournemouth University , and a BA degree in Finance from Ufa State Aviation Technical University.
Timur speaks fluent English, Russian and German.
Timur is an outdoor action man - his favourite activities range from trail running and open water swimming, surfing down German rivers and kite surfing – and when occasionally indoors, loves reading. His best book ever read – Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
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Iva Mikulikova
Sales Support
Iva joined Durnell Marketing in 2004, supporting the Territory Manager in Central and Eastern Europe, dealing with day to day enquiries, orders and promotions.
Before joining Durnell Marketing Iva worked in the Electronics and Aluminium Industry looking after a set client base in Europe.
She studied Hotel Management for 3 years before moving to the UK to improve her English.
Iva speaks fluent Czech, German and English.
Apart from being a keen cyclist and swimmer and traveller she is also part of a book group and her favourite title is: Into the darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes.
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Yulianna Permyakova
Trade Sales & Marketing Executive
Yulianna joined Durnell Marketing in 2021 as Trade Sales & Marketing Executive. Responsible for driving sales in the Baltics and Central Asia, she also creates content for cross-publisher promotions and marketing campaigns.
She graduated with a BA in Publishing Media from Oxford Brookes University and an MA in Publishing from Kingston University. Before joining the team, Yulianna worked as a bookseller in an antiquarian bookshop in London.
Yulianna speaks fluent Russian and English. In her spare time, she likes daydreaming, people-watching, reading books about books and watching documentaries. Her favourite books include works by Victor Hugo, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Venedikt Yerofeyev, Italian playwrights of commedia dell’arte and biographies by André Maurois.
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Buhle-Bethu Qatyana
Business Sales & Marketing Executive
Buhle-Bethu joined Durnell Marketing in 2022 in the role of Business Sales & Marketing Executive. She is responsible for creating cross-publisher promotions and marketing campaigns, and driving sales in Italy, Romania, Ireland, and Malta.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Information Science in Publishing from the University of Pretoria and an MA in Publishing Media from Oxford Brookes University. She started her publishing career as a publishing intern and later became a production editor and, subsequently a rights and permissions specialist.
Buhle-Bethu has also worked in magazine and digital publishing. Before starting her MA studies, she took a career break to go live and teach in South Korea.
Buhle-Bethu speaks English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu and intermediate French. In her spare time, she likes staying active, and spending time in the outdoors, seeing the world, reading and sharing stories. She enjoys African Literature, and her favorite author is Toni Morrison.
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Bianca Belcher
Senior Sales Manager
Bianca first joined Durnell Marketing in 2012 as European Sales Representative after finishing her MA in Comparative Literature at King’s College London. After spending some time away at IB Tauris and Bloomsbury Academic, Bianca rejoined Durnell Marketing in 2023. She is now coordinating the marketing activities for the Academic and Art lists and is looking after Denmark, Sweden, and Berlin. She is a native speaker of German and English and fluent in French.
Outside of work, Bianca enjoys travelling, learning new crafts, gardening, and staying up late reading the latest fiction. Her favourite genres are Young Adult Fiction (growing up is boring enough), crime fiction, Science fiction, stories from the Asian continent (top recommendations: Wild Swans by Jung Chang and Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien), anything related to crafts, and gardening and nature books in any form (Wilding by Isabella Tree is a firm favourite).
