18th July 2025 Rising Stars 13 Sareeta Domingo Jacaranda
Few have probably had a more eclectic book-trade career than Sareeta Domingo. Who else can say they have worked at a children’s fiction packager, commissioned Mills & Boon romances and, while editorial director at Orion imprint Trapeze, published boundary- pushing fiction from the likes of Kelechi Okafor, Anoushka Warden and Cassie Werber? Not only that, Domingo is also the author of several children’s and adult novels, the latest being April’s “spicy” romance Possibility (Renegade). Domingo has changed gears again after being headhunted to be publishing director at Jacaranda: “I’m very excited to be overseeing the strategy for moving this brilliantly innovative, Black-owned publishing company into a new phase.” Her latest move, in part, stems from feeling “disheartened” by what she feels is the industry lessening its support of writers and staff from under-represented communities: “My hope is that publishers recommit to a focus on making our industry one that is open to all.”
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Cassia Gaden Gilmartin New Island; Channel
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Double threat Cassia Gaden Gilmartin entered the publishing industry in 2019 after completing an MPhil at Trinity College when she co-founded Channel, a journal of eco-writing. It has evolved ever since, recently expanding to its first single-author project (Annette Skade’s Holdfast). Gaden Gilmartin joined New Island’s production team in 2022 (recently promoted to production manager), skilfully overseeing all manner of titles for the Dublin-based indie, from a 1,000-page thesaurus to graphic novels. She is rightfully proud of her work on e-book accessibility: “It’s hugely satisfying to know that the files and metadata for even our most complex projects are now set up so as to maximise accessibility for a range of readers.” She has also added editing to her New Island bow, including William Wall’s thriller Writers Anonymous, and sits on the Publishing Ireland board, chairing the EDI and Sustainability subcommittees. The year ahead will see Channel “growing in some big ways” (details to follow).
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15 15 Helena Heald Edinburgh University Press
Having the “standard panic of what to do with a humanities degree” during her undergrad at Durham and master’s at St Andrews, Helena Heald knew she wanted to work where she could “pursue her curiosity and interests – and gently improve the world”. Turns out that was Edinburgh University Press, which Heald joined in 2019, moving to a linguistics and law commissioning parental cover in 2022, and finally her “dream job” of overseeing EUP’s ancient history and classical studies list. Her commissioning has been both subtle (rebranding the classics list to its current name to emphasise its remit is not just Greek and Roman) and profound, including doubling the title output and publishing works on challenging topics such as slavery, intersectionality and democracy. When thinking about her long-term goals, Heald says: “Working directly with authors and their books and creating a bespoke experience from the very early stages of contact gives me so much energy. I want to keep following this joy.”
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Features
Rising Stars
YELLOWBELLY
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