Ibrahim Ahmad joined Viking as executive editor in 2021. He acquires an eclectic range of literary fiction and crime fiction, with a particular focus on incendiary, urgent voices that subvert and expand the existing literature; his nonfiction interests include current affairs, politics, memoir, and pop culture. As editorial director at Akashic Books, where he worked for two decades, Ahmad published a list that included extraordinary writers from around the world, including Maaza Mengiste, Chris Abani, Lee Child, Tayari Jones, Marlon James, Amiri Baraka, Rivers Solomon, China Miéville, Jessica Hagedorn, Kwame Dawes, Randall Robinson, Lydia Millet, Bernardine Evaristo, Nelson George, Bernice L. McFadden, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, Adrian McKinty, Patricia Smith, Etgar Keret, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Joyce Carol Oates, Ben Okri, Edwidge Danticat, Ralph Nader, Ron Kovic, Michael Stipe, Marc Ribot, Lydia Lunch, Ziggy Marley, Prodigy from Mobb Deep, Melvin Van Peebles, Michael Imperioli, and #1 international best-seller Adam Mansbach.