The Bookseller Rising Stars: Introducing the Class of 2024

A striking thing about the interviews we conducted with the last few Rising Stars tranches, and particularly with the Class of 2024—the 14th edition of our annual list which recognises the British and Irish book trade’s up-and-comers—was how the vast majority of them said that growing up, and even into university, they didn’t consider a career in the book trade, that it wasn’t for the likes of them.

There are positives to be seen here. There have been great strides in recruiting those from communities previously under-represented in the industry. So recent Rising Stars classes are of the generation that have benefited from programmes such as Creative Access or Penguin Random House’s The Scheme, which are casting an ever-wider net.

And yet, it still struck me as troubling. Most of these Rising Stars grew up heavy readers, and were quick to wax lyrical about favourite authors from childhood or near-magical trips to the local library. It made me posit that most young people who are into music or movies probably know that there are a plethora of jobs in those fields other than being the talent. Taylor Swift fans know who Scooter Braun is, for example (not for the best reasons, but still). But the book trade—and particularly in agenting and publishing—retains at least the whiff of unattainability, the sort of Oxbridge secret society of the creative industries. Again, this perception is changing, but here’s hoping it continues to change at a faster rate.

For all that, still these industry professionals rise. Anissa de Gomery is this year’s Shooting Star—the individual on the list we salute just a bit more than the others—and she launched her subscription box business FairyLoot partly because she could not land a job in publishing. Yet, in less than eight years, FairyLoot has grown from a two-person living room start-up to a 35-staff strong game-changer, which has altered the fantasy market’s landscape and has done much to shake up the demographics of authors and audiences in that genre.

Perhaps as a result of the industry making concerted efforts at looking further afield, almost one in five of the Class of 2024 started their working lives in completely different professions

The Rising Stars sponsor, the Frankfurt Book Fair, will give de Gomery an all-expenses paid trip to FBF 2024, with the opportunity to appear on seminar panels and have one-on-one consultations with industry insiders. After a string of editors, agents, sales executives and last year a publicist (Sceptre’s Maria Garbutt-Lucero), de Gomery is the first retailer to be named the Shooting Star.

Maybe as a result of the industry making those concerted efforts at demystification and looking further afield, almost one in five of the Class of 2024 started their working lives in completely different professions, before altering course into the book trade later in their careers. These fresh eyes are often transformative for a business: Genevieve Sioka ramping up the National Trust’s publishing and retail game, for example; or Matt Rafiq Vaz coming into Penguin Random House from a continent-crossing ad-tech career to shake up the trade giant’s marketing data approach. Those fresh eyes can even reinvigorate a business that is already familiar, such as Cian Byrne leaving corporate life to take over the family bookshop in Maynooth, County Kildare. There, Byrne has expanded the estate and become one of the loudest campaigning voices for Bookselling Ireland.

It is fascinating how, four years on from spring 2020, the Rising Stars is still driven by the events of the pandemic. Approximately half the list either joined the industry or completely changed their roles as a direct result of the challenges during Covid-19. Freya Blyth launched her Aberystwyth-based store, The Bookshop by the Sea, both because lockdown put paid to her career as a librarian working abroad and she felt people needed more books in that time of stress and anxiety. Rachel Neely’s burgeoning editorial career was stopped in its tracks when she was made redundant from Orion during lockdown. The ensuing soul-searching—and Netflix-bingeing—led her to cross the aisle into a literary agency and she has not looked back, notching a cascade of big deals ever since.

So, they have been battle-tested, these Rising Stars, and have responded with innovation, grit and strategic nous that augurs well for when they become the leaders of the future.

Rising Stars 2024: The Class of 2024 – click here for the full list of entries.