Francis is currently the arts editor of The Week, Australia's leading weekly news magazine, and comes from a strong background in arts and music. His devotion to the arts took him to Russia for eight years, where he worked on a range of high-profile publications, including The Moscow Times and various Condé Nast titles. Merson also edited Element, Moscow's English language entertainment weekly.

Merson achieved a B.A. double major at University of Sydney in English Literature and a first class B.A. honours in Russian language and literature at University of NSW. He sits on the steering committee for the NSW Parliament Arts and Culture Group and is a board member of the Friends of the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia. He trained as an opera singer and pianist and speaks five languages.

Haymarket Media's managing director and publisher of Limelight, Jeremy Vaughan, said he was delighted to have Francis on board to lead the title into its next exciting stage.

"Francis's deep and grounded knowledge of the arts and music will stand him in good stead to steer Limelight into the next stage of its life. Francis has a passion for the subject and for magazine craft. His time on The Week means he has a great connection to the local arts and music scene, which was what made him such a strong choice for the role," Vaughan said.

Merson, 31, said the editorship of Limelight was his dream job. "I'm thrilled by the prospect of editing a magazine devoted wholly to the arts. As a lover of fine music I've followed Limelight since the first issue, and I'm delighted to join the team at such an exciting stage."

According to Vaughan, Limelight readers can expect some stimulating new content. "We've already discussed some interesting plans with Francis, who has a strong vision for the title that will create for our readers deep connections to Australia's vibrant arts, music and culture scene. Having Gramophone, the world's best classical music magazine, as Limelight's sister title means we have a wonderful resource of first-class international content as well as the best local arts coverage."

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Haymarket is a specialist publishing and events company operating in the world's major markets. In Australia, it publishes in print and online the IT channel bible, CRN¸ Australia's most trusted PC magazine, PC Authority, No. 1 enthusiast publication, Atomic Maximum Power Computing, F1 Racing, FourFourTwo, Limelight and leading online publications iTnews and Secure Computing. It runs events such as the SC Awards presented by AusCERT and CRN's Fast50 fastest-growing IT resellers. Haymarket is the UK's largest private magazine publisher, with over 100 titles in 23 languages and almost 100 nations.

For more information: Jeremy Vaughan, 02 8908 2200