Promotions for Clear and Pratt at Walker Books as Grainger moves to new role at Bath Spa University

Gráinne Clear has been promoted to editorial director for fiction at Walker Books UK, and Non Pratt to senior commissioning editor. Meanwhile, Annalie Grainger will be moving to a new role as lecturer on the Bath Spa MA in Writing for Young People.

Grainger joined Walker Books in 2007 and has acquired many of Walker’s key authors, including Angie Thomas, Lauren James and Katherine Webber, among others. As fiction editorial director, she has been central to Walker’s fiction publishing strategy and to the way the list has developed in recent years.

Clear, Walker Books’ new editorial director for fiction, has worked with and acquired many leading names on the Walker fiction list since joining Walker Books in 2019. These have included the Gifts series by Caroline O’Donoghue, Nura and the Immortal Palace by M T Khan (winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Younger Readers) and Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lin, which was shortlisted for the Branford Boase. She has also been a key member of the team establishing the Staróg Prize for new children’s writers in Ireland.

Meanwhile, Pratt has been promoted to senior commissioning editor, taking on a more strategic commissioning role within the fiction team. Described as a "superbly creative editor with a keen commercial eye", they have acquired the Loki series by Louie Stowell, which was the overall winner of the Children’s Book Award 2023, as well as Never Trust a Gemini by Freja Nicole Woolf and Where the Light Goes by Sara Barnard.

Denise Johnstone-Burt, publishing director at Walker Books, said: “Annalie has been a trusted, supportive and truly beloved colleague not just to me, but to the whole team and we will miss her hugely. She is an outstanding editor and writer and her legacy will not just be the great books she has published but also the way she has encouraged her team to develop.

"We are tremendously lucky to have such talented editors as Gráinne and Non ready to step up into their new roles and bring their own flair and creativity to the list. This will be an exciting new chapter for Walker fiction and for Annalie in her new adventure.”