Aoife K. Walsh, Elena Browne, and Aoife Roantree are Bookseller Rising Stars 2023
The Bookseller has announced this year’s Rising Stars which includes three professionals from the Irish book industry: Aoife K. Walsh, commissioning editor at New Island Books; Aoife Roantree, Manager of Dubray Books and Vice Chair of Bookselling Ireland; and Elena Browne, sales representative at The O’Brien Press.
According to The Bookseller, the 2023 list “shows a group with a determined, DIY ethos, often working to advance the trade as a whole rather than for individual gain.”
Aoife K. Walsh
Nora, by Nuala O’Connor, and Words to Shape My Name, by Laura McKenna are just two of the stand-out titles which have recently been shepherded to publication by Walsh, commissioning editor at New Island Books, an independent publisher which won Irish Small Press of the Year 2023.
Discussing her life in publishing for Books Ireland, Walsh spoke about her role as commissioning editor.
“My approach is creative, instinctive, collegial and inclusive, globally ambitious while being strategic with a growth-mindset.”
Elena Browne
Elena Browne started off in the industry at Eason’s in Dublin, where she specialised in children’s and young adult books, before moving to The O’Brien Press in 2016.
She now includes commissioning in her role, and is an author in her own right.
You Can Do It, Rosie! (illustrated by Brian Fitzgerald), was published in autumn 2022.
Aoife Roantree
Aoife Roantree is Vice Chair of Bookselling Ireland and manager of Dubray Liffey Valley. She has worked in eight bookshops in the last twelve years, including five out of eleven Dubrays.
Roantree is passionate about sustainability, staff wellbeing, diversity and inclusion; as she told The Bookseller: “I would love to see publishers listen to booksellers when we affirm the crucial role of sales reps to how the whole ecosystem operates—and to recommit to supporting that role and those relationships.”
