Meet the Author: David Roche in conversation with Dan Oakey

Founded in 2023 within the Block Dojo incubator, Libraro is a community-driven platform that connects readers, writers, and publishers to discover fresh voices and create new opportunities for emerging authors. At the heart of Libraro's technology is blockchain, which ensures the security and transparency of intellectual property rights. By leveraging this technology, we protect authors' work and offer a trusted environment for collaboration, making Libraro a pioneer in safeguarding creative content in the digital age. Led by Arsim Shillova, who brings 25 years of experience commercialising technology solutions for global organisations, including space tech companies like Airbus and ESA, and whose own journey began with playwriting, Libraro enhances book discoverability through crowd-reading and data insights. With plans to expand its industry partnerships, Libraro is preparing for a full platform launch in early January. Learn more at www.libraro.io.

Libraro, a community-driven platform that allows publishers to access new manuscripts, has appointed London Book Fair chair and former Borders c.e.o. David Roche as chairman. Roche has worked in publishing for 30 years. He was previously group sales and marketing director at HarperCollins, held board positions at Waterstones and HMV, was chair of New Writing North and a trustee of BookTrust, as well as being a published author.

Author Dan Oakey - Shy and retiring Air Force brat who grew up on military bases across Europe. Four different careers to date: philosophy, journalism, banking and now climate risk management. Throughout that time, I’ve been constantly honing my writing craft. A three-year diploma in screenwriting from Birkbeck. Open mic poetry to challenge me. Courses at Curtis Brown Creative on ‘How To Edit Your Novel’ and at Golden Egg on ‘Writing For Young Adults’. Home (for the moment) is London. I have one teenage son.

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