Clare, Jeffers, Colfer and Reeve in Bologna acquisitions

24.03.14 | Charlotte Eyre - The Bookseller

Partnerships between Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, and between Oliver Jeffers and Eoin Colfer, are among announcements made for the first day of the Bologna Children's Book Fair today (Monday 24th March).
A new novel from Philip Reeve and a Shakespeare dictionary for children have also been revealed.

Black and Clare have teamed up to write a series of five YA books about a reluctant magician called Callum. Random House Children’s Publishers will publish the first book in the Magisterium series, The Iron Trial, in September under the Doubleday imprint.

“Holly and Cassie are two of the hottest authors on the planet right now,” said Becky Stradwick, editorial director at RHCP UK. “It’s a real thrill to be publishing these two phenomenal authors together across all our territories. We know The Iron Trial will electrify readers immediately – and of course leave them desperate for the next instalment in the series.”
RHCP is promising an "ambitious" marketing campaign, with a pre-awareness operation starting over the summer, inviting readers to complete monthly online trials, unlocking exclusive content and prizes, as well as sampling in schools and cinemas to reach a wider audience. This will lead up to an author tour around publication this autumn.
Meanwhile HarperCollins Children's Books is to publish a collaboration between Eoin Colfer [pictured], author of the Artemis Fowl series (Puffin), and Oliver Jeffers, author and illustrator of How to Catch a Star (HarperCollins). Imaginary Fred, a story about imaginary friends, will come out in the UK and the US in autumn 2015 and is described as a "dazzlingly original colour gift book".

The deal for world rights was signed by Rachel Denwood, publishing and creative director at HarperCollins Children’s Books UK, and Kate Jackson and Nancy Inteli of HarperCollins US. They acquired the rights from Sophie Hicks at Ed Victor.

“An Eoin Colfer and Oliver Jeffers collaboration is pretty much the stuff of dreams – they are simply two of the finest children’s book creators on the planet,” said Denwood. “Imaginary Fred is a complete one-off – it’s funny, poignant, original. It’s genius.”

Meanwhile Oxford University Press has signed up a new novel from Philip Reeve in a "major" pre-Bologna deal concluded on the eve of the fair. The world rights deal was done between Liz Cross, head of publishing at Oxford Children's, and Reeve's agent Philippa Milnes-Smith of LAW. The novel, with the working title Railhead, will be published in autumn 2015.
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