Gráinne Clear, Publishing Manager and Art Director at Little Island Books, is leaving Little Island after six years to take up the role of Senior Editor at Walker Books in London.
Clear, who was named as a Bookseller Rising Star in 2017, has worked on a host of award-winning titles in a stellar few years for the press, which included the hugely popular Tangleweed & Brine (Irish Book Awards YA Book of the Year 2017, Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year 2017), the Compelling Compendium of Irish Animals (CBI Honour Award for Illustration 2019) and Star by Star (CBI Honour Award for Best Fiction 2018). Little Island were also named Irish Small Press of the Year, 2019 in the Bookseller Awards earlier this year.
Speaking to Books Ireland, Clear said she was “delighted and excited to be offered this opportunity with Walker Books. I’ve admired their books, their values and their team for many years and I feel very lucky to have a chance to work with them. I will, of course, miss the brilliant Little Island Books so much after almost 6 years and independent Irish publishing will always have a piece of my heart, but I’m also thrilled to be starting a new chapter.”
According to Siobhán Parkinson, founder of Little Island (and the first Laureate na nÓG), ‘Gráinne Clear has made an enormous contribution to Little Island over the years she has been with us. We will have a Gráinne-shaped gap that will certainly take some filling. Sorry though we are to lose her, we are delighted to wish Gráinne the very best in this exciting new phase of her career.‘
