Irish indie Little Island partners with The O’Brien Press for Ireland sales

Irish children’s indie Little Island Books is excited to announce a new sales partnership with fellow multigenerational family publisher The O’Brien Press. Commencing in August 2026, The O’Brien Press will represent Little Island across the island of Ireland for all trade sales, including titles from Northern Irish indie Bad Book Press, which are already distributed via Little Island.

The move sees Ireland’s two leading children’s publishers come together for the first time. It follows a record-breaking year for Little Island in 2025, with global sales up 171% by value, reflecting a 143% increase in units sold.

Little Island will avail of The O’Brien Press’s well-established relationships with booksellers, librarians and suppliers in Ireland. The O’Brien Press will represent all of Little Island’s titles, including their backlist, which contains award-winning books in all young age groups from creators such as Deirdre Sullivan, Paul Howard, Aoife Dooley, Sheena Dempsey and Leon Diop; Laureates na nÓg Patricia Forde, Eoin Colfer and Siobhán Parkinson; a growing list of verse novels; and recent hits like Solo by Gráinne O’Brien and Oscar Wilde’s Stories for Children illustrated by Lauren O’Hara.

Little Island will continue to distribute with Macmillan (MDL) across Ireland and the UK, and be represented by Bounce Sales & Marketing in Great Britain and Consortium Book Sales & Marketing in North America. Little Island and The O’Brien Press will remain separate, independent entities for all editorial and business purposes.

Little Island’s CEO and Publisher Matthew Parkinson-Bennett says: “This is an exciting moment for Little Island and all our incredible authors and illustrators. The O’Brien team have a terrific reputation and track record for sales in Ireland, and we’re confident that this new partnership will help take Little Island to a new level of commercial success.  Our two presses have longed enjoyed a relationship of friendly competition in the children’s and YA space. The O’Brien Press’s historic contribution to young people’s books in Ireland has been huge and it is no exaggeration to say that Little Island would not exist if it weren’t for the far-sighted commitment to quality children’s publishing pursued by the late Michael O’Brien.”

The O’Brien Press’s Managing Director Ivan O’Brien adds: “We are delighted to be representing Little Island from this autumn. Our team will work to ensure their beautiful books have the best possible presence in shops of all sizes throughout Ireland. We were founder Siobhán Parkinson’s first publisher back in 1992, when Irish children’s publishing was in its infancy, and have been delighted to see Little Island’s growth and development. Independent publishers have always worked together, sharing information and advice. Particularly with children’s books, we share a goal of broader and deeper readership: we are mission-driven companies who want each other to succeed. We are confident that this new arrangement will get more Irish books into the hands of more readers, which can only be a good thing.”

For Little Island enquiries, please contact: info@littleisland.ie