Dan Franklin was born in 1949. He read English and American Literature and History at UEA, graduating in 1970. His publishing career began at Peter Owen Ltd. From there he moved to the Harvill Press, then Collins, then Heinemann, where he was Editorial Director for non-fiction. He then became Publishing Director of Secker & Warburg, where he published Roddy Doyle, Bill Bryson and Louis de Bernieres. In 1993 he was appointed Publishing Director of Jonathan Cape, a position he held until January 2016, when he went part-time as Associate Publisher. He is still looking after his authors, who include Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, Martin Amis, David Szalay, Howard Jacobson, Roddy Doyle, Helen Macdonald  and Julia Blackburn.