Aimée Walsh

Walsh was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland.^[5] She attended Belfast Royal Academy.^[5] She studied an undergraduate degree at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), before undertaking a Master's degree at Queen's University Belfast.^[5] She returned to Liverpool John Moore's University, where she completed a PhD in Irish Literature and Cultural History in 2020.^[6][7]

Walsh’s research focuses on Irish literature, gender, nationalism, and cultural history.

Her monograph, Writing Resistance in Northern Ireland, was published by Liverpool University Press in 2024.^[8] Reviewers praised the breadth of materials used as evidence; Walsh discusses historical accounts, fictional narratives, documentaries, testimonies, pamphlets and poetry.^[9] Critics argued that this study added to the knowledge of both republicanism and feminism in Northern Ireland,^[9][10] with a review in Irish Studies Review calling it an "exciting contribution" to the field.^[10]

Walsh contributes opinion, social commentary, and literary criticism to a range of publications. As of 2026, she works as a Columnist and Deputy Editor at the Daily Mirror.^[11] There, she led and presented a three-part investigative documentary series called 'Buy To Die' on an online suicide forum and a legal poison, available on the Daily Mirror YouTube channel.^[12] Before joining the Daily Mirror, she wrote regularly for: The Irish Times and RTÉ Culture as a book critic. Walsh has also written for: The Observer; Refinery29; Service95; The Independent; Dublin Review of Books; Stylist Magazine.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18]} In 2025, she was shortlisted for the Society of Editors Media Freedom Awards under the “Commentator of the Year (Popular)” category.^[2]

Walsh’s debut novel, Exile, was published by John Murray on 23 May, 2024.^[19] It follows a young Irish woman who is assaulted shortly before leaving moving from Belfast to Liverpool for university.^[19][20] Walsh described it as "a novel primarily about the aftermath of sexual violence, the shifting nature of friendships, and that particular feeling of leaving home at 18".^[19]

The Irish Times described the novel as "somewhere between Nikolai Gogol and Sally Rooney", praising it as "among the best of contemporary Irish fiction".^[21] The Irish Examiner called it "a brilliant novel about friendship, consent and displacement from a vibrant new voice."^[22]