CELEBRATIONS April 2019

April is ticking in as we make the most of those extra hours of sunlight to increase our creativity. 

 B B Taylor glides into April by sharing some of our members' latest achievements! 

New Releases 

Summer is a thing of beauty and I think we can all agree there is nothing more beautiful than the cover of Beauty Sleep by Kathryn Evans. What would you do if you woke up and the world had moved on without you? Read Beauty Sleep and find out! Available now published by Usborne and with stunning cover art by Will Steele.

Claire Barker is treating us to a right tasty book to dig our teeth into this month with the launch of the latest in her Knitbone Pepper series:Knitbone Pepper and the Silver Phantom, illustrated by Ross Collins andpublished by Usborne.

If you loves crayons (and who doesn't?) you'll need this in your wishlist. Released on the 1st April, Natascha Biebow's new non-fiction book The Crayon Man tells the story of Edwin Binney, whose love of colour and knack for listening and making what people needed led to an innovative and enduring invention in 1903 – Crayola crayons. The Crayon Man has beautiful illustrations from Steve Salerno and is published by HMH.

April is full of fantastic new books including Lorraine Hellier's latest instalment in her Elf series. The Elf Bride is the third in Lorraine's middle grade fantasy series.

Coming Soon

Everyone loves unicorns right? And grumpy unicorns are even better! Sarah McIntyre brightens up our May with her upcoming picture Grumpycorn. Published by Scholastic, it's available to pre-order now to bright some rainbow brightness onto your shelves! 

Julie Pike has always had a passion for adventure, from climbing to the peak of Kilimanjaro to skydiving over the Salisbury Plains. Her latest adventure has been to write her debut novel, The Last Spell Breather, a refreshingly original take on magic where spells are breathed into life from the pages of a book. Due to be released by Oxford Children's' Books on July 4th, it has a stunning cover designed by Dinara Mirtalipova. Julie very much enjoyed working with agent Jo Williamson and editor Liz Cross.

Not content with just one fabulous new title this year Sarah McIntyre is back with her partner in crime Philip Reeve as September reveals the return of Kevin the roly poly pony in his second adventure Kevin's Great Escape out on the 5th September and published by OUP.

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Exciting news as Hachette Children’s Group has acquired a picture book inspired by the refugee crisis in Syria by SCBWI member Rachel Ip and illustrator Anneli Bray. The Last Garden is about a little girl who tends the last garden in a war-torn city. Publisher Emma Layfield acquired world rights from Clare Wallace at Darley Anderson Chidren’s Book Agency and will publish on the Hodder Children’s Book imprint in 2020. Layfield said: “It’s so exciting to see two new talents come together to create something so special. Movingly illustrated, this thoughtful and tender story of hope touches on timely issues of conflict and migration.”

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The good news keeps rolling in this April as lyrical genius Dom Conlon celebrates rock 'n' roll style This Rock, That Rock is a book of fifty poems written to celebrate everything between you, me and the Moon. It is illustrated by Viviane Schwarz and will be published in October by Troika. Dom's first book of poetry, Astro Poetica, was praised by Nicola Davies as being "insightful, thought-provoking and fun, full of tenderness and wisdom." We can't wait to see what people think of this new addition to his collection!

John Tarrow is excited to shared his first Young Adult novel's release in July. The Stranger's Guide To Talliston is a Young Adult fantasy adventure set in Britain's most extraordinary house: Talliston. The question is, what lies at the labyrinth’s centre?

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Awards 

Emma Finlayson-Palmer is tweeting with delight this month as she was long listed in the Mslexia Children's Novel Award for her upper Middle Grade thriller, Ornithophobia, inspired by The Birds.

Jenny Shippen is also celebrating joining the long list of the Mslexia Children's Novel Award 

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Agents 

Tita Berredo is celebrating this month after just signing with Fairbank Literary Agency, we can't wait to see what the future has in store!

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Have you got a new agent? Don't be shy, let us know so we can celebrate with you too!

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Good News

A good news story as we welcome in the summer. In 2016 Emma Perry won a SCBWI Slush Pile Challenge, by the end of the year the agent who judged it, Helen MacKenzie-Smith, had signed her up, and now… we are over the moon to be able to announce Emma has two picture books being published by David Fickling Books in 2020! Keep your eyes peeled for her first book I Don’t Like Books. Never. Ever. The End illustrated by Sharon Davey. Hurray for Emma and hurray for Words & Pictures' Slush Pile Challenge!

The good news continues to shine this month as UK and Commonwealth rights to Damaris Young’s debut middle-grade book, The Switching Hour was bought at auction by Lauren Fortune at Scholastic in a two-book deal. Due for publication in August 2019, the book is inspired by the landscapes and legends from Damaris’ childhood growing up in Southern Africa, telling the story of a girl called Amaya.

 This is Anita Lehmann and Camilla Chester - they did a joint WBD visit this year at Springmead Primary School in Welwyn Garden City. Anita did KS1 and Camilla entertained KS2. Such a treat to share the best day in the school calendar with a SCBWI friend! Always good to see our SCBWI members out celebrating books with some fun!

*All images courtesy of authors mentioned above. 

Have you got good news to share? New book? New agent? Award nominee or winner? Are you a new member? Say hi and let us know. Why not send an email over with your good news, a picture and any links so we can celebrate too :)

celebrations@britishscbwi.org