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Children's Features

Letter from London
Julia Eccleshare -- 2/28/00

People in the News

Scholastic Children's Books (U.K.), which has been without a publishing director since David Fickling left late last year to set up David Fickling Books, has appointed Richard Scrivener as publishing director. Scrivener has been publishing director for media and popular nonfiction at Puffin, where he has been in charge of negotiating and acquiring book rights with media companies worldwide. Notable successes for Scrivener have been the Spice Girls books, tie-ins for A Bug's Life and the setting up of a long-term deal for Puffin with Disney securing the rights to films such as Toy Story 2 and the forthcoming Dinosaur.

Scrivener is joining Scholastic U.K. after a tough year for the company, attributable to the disappointing sales of the Star Wars publishing program and the declining sales of Goosebumps books. Undaunted, Scrivener said, "These were temporary setbacks. Goosebumps declined slowly here, not precipitously as in the U.S., and the Horrible Histories are holding up well. Scholastic's strength is that it can publish across all markets. The previous success of a series like Goosebumps alongside the fiction of Philip Pullman shows what a versatile publisher it is. I want to publish the best books in each category and we will certainly develop quality fiction as well as supporting the up-and-coming authors." To bolster that, fiction publishing will now be jointly lead by Liz Cross and Kirsty Skidmore, currently commissioning editors.

David Fickling Books, a Scholastic imprint, will publish its first title, Troy by Adele Geras, next month.

Random House Children's Books has appointed Gill Evans as publishing director, responsible for the editorial and design side of all the imprints. Her role will be to develop the fiction and picture book strengths of RHCB. Evans left Egmont Children's Books (formerly Reed Children's Books) last year after 10 years, most recently as deputy managing director. During those years she was closely associated with the growth of the Mammoth list.

Her new role at Random House will include developing the Red Fox list, which celebrates its 10th birthday this year with a £40,000 marketing promotion and a traveling exhibition of the work of its artists, including Shirley Hughesand Nicholas Allan. Evans's new role takes over much of the work of Ian Craig, who is moving from his job as head of publishing at RHCB to executive publisher of Jonathan Cape. Working closely with Cape's publisher, Tom Maschler, Craig will expand the picture book list from its current eight titles a year and, specifically, bring in a younger generation of illustrators.

A New Venture

Barry Cunningham, best known for spotting J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and publishing it on the Bloomsbury list, is setting up a joint venture publishing company with Egmont Children's Books. As yet unnamed, it will be owned by Egmont and Cunningham, who will have editorial control. Keeping small, to around 30 titles a year, it will be a fiction andnonfiction list for 8- to 12-year-olds, strongly aimed at the international market. Cunningham will use Egmont's sales and marketing in the U.K. and co-publishing arrangements in Europe. He is still looking for a U.S. partner. "This gives me full ability to create the books I want within a safe commercial framework, while for Egmont, it gives them a creative unit to run alongside their existing publishing," Cunningham said.

Cunningham's close association with Rowling has led to unconfirmed speculation thatshe might be putting money into the company. As to the possibility of a future title by Rowling, Cunningham said, "I very much like working with Jo but she has a commitment to Bloomsbury to finishing her Harry Potter series."

In the Winner's Circle

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (Bloomsbury) won the Whitbread Children's Book Award and was also winner of the Book of the Year award at the Nibbies. The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson (Doubleday) won the Children's Book Award at the Nibbies.

The Branford Boase Award, a new award, will be presented annually to a children's writer for an outstanding first novel for ages seven and older. Set up in honor of the author Henrietta Branford and the editor and co-founder of Walker Books, Wendy Boase, both of whom died of cancer last year, the Award will also celebrate the role of the editor in finding and nurturing new talent. There will be a £1,000 prize for the winning author and a trophy for both author and editor.

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