Publisher HarperCollins today announced that they were shuttering their imprint Inkyard Press and transitioning their titles to Harper Collins Children’s Books.
Inkyard was a well-known publisher of books for middle grade and teen readers. Their catalogue boasted a large number of titles written by a diverse group authors from minority communities.
As the tagline on their website states:
Inkyard Press publishes smart, engaging Middle Grade and YA fiction across a variety of genres, from realistic contemporary to epic fantasy. We are passionate about publishing diverse voices and giving our readers a chance to see themselves and each other in our books, with grateful acknowledgment to the work of Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop on the importance of “windows” and “mirrors” in literature.
Launching with a slate of five original graphic novels created for the young adult space, Legendary Comics announced a new imprint, Legendary Comics YA, dedicated to telling original and character-driven stories across a wide array of genres. With a commitment to amplify new voices, spotlight diverse perspectives, and seek out passionate talent telling authentic stories, the imprint gives emerging and veteran artists a platform to share stories never told before and retell classics from a new point of view, in hopes to transport readers to other worlds that span a range of genres, from fantasy to historical fiction, and beyond.
“We’ve identified the young adult genre as an opportunity to expand and invest in our audience growth. Legendary Comics YA is the beginning of our long term commitment to this category and the diverse stories we want to tell,” said Robert Napton, Senior Vice President of Legendary Comics.
“The YA genre is known for telling groundbreaking, innovative, and unique stories. By working with exciting new talent and comic book veterans in the YA space, we have been able to acquire books where emotional and personal journeys are at the forefront. Legendary Comics YA is our chance to focus on fresh character-driven stories that reflect the diverse voices of young adults all over the world,” said Nikita Kannekanti, Senior Editor at Legendary Comics.
The Legendary Comics YA slate includes:
Championess (in stores now) – based on the true story of Elizabeth Wilkinson, a female bare-knuckle boxer in 18th century London. Elizabeth, reimagined as half-Indian, and her sister Tess struggle to make ends meet and cover Tess’s debts. While Elizabeth works odd jobs at the local newspaper, the only way she knows how to make enough money to help them survive is her true passion, bareknuckle boxing. With Tess’s support, Elizabeth trains at the boxing facility of one of the most famous retired boxers and the only real fight promoter of any notoriety, James Figg. As Elizabeth trains with Figg and James Stokes, she confronts her personal demons of what destroyed her family and comes to terms with being the first half-Indian female boxer in a white male world. Writers: Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas. Arist: Amanda Perez Puentes.
The Heart Hunter (August 3, 2021) – set on the cursed island of Envecor, where everyone is doomed to wear their heart outside their body and are immortal—unable to die, to change, to have children — until they find their soul mate. Paired soul mates are then turned mortal, freed from the curse, and able to leave. But all fairy tales have a dark side: those who don’t want to lose their immortality pay “Heart Hunters” to find their soul mates and kill them so they may remain immortal. Psyche, a Heart Hunter, is hired by the king to kill his soulmate. As she sets out on her quest, she begins her own journey of mending her broken heart and learning to trust again. Writer: Mickey George. Artist: V. Gagnon.
Lupina (September 9, 2021) – a six-part captivating saga about a young girl on a journey of revenge with her wolf companion. In the coastal town of Kote, recently brought under the yoke of the Addalian Empire, four-year-old Lupa spends her days getting bullied by her older sister and hiding behind her mother’s skirts. But when tragedy strikes, Lupa finds herself alone in a new world… alone until she’s found by the she-wolf, Coras, and sets off on a journey of discovery… and revenge. Writer: Eisner Award-nominated writer James F. Wright. Arist: Li Buszka.
The Witches of Silverlake (October 1, 2022) – the story of Elliot Green, who moves across country to start high school in one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious private schools. He’s quickly taken in by the school’s outcasts: the scholarship kids; the queer kids; and the ones who just don’t really fit in with the glossy trust fund babies of SJTBA. They quickly let him in on their little secret…they are witches. Elliot joins them in their world among the crystal stores and occult shops of Silverlake and ends up joining his new friends’ coven. During one of their magical experiments, they accidentally release a bloodthirsty demon that starts murdering their classmates and teachers. Elliot and his coven realize that the fun and games of playing with crystals and candles is over, that magic is powerful, real, and that it might be more dangerous than they’d ever imagined. Writer: Simon Curtis. Arist: Stephanie Son.
Tragic (April 18, 2022) – a retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet from a queer lens and told through the eyes of 17-year-old Harper Hayes. After her father Hamilton dies a mysterious and tragic death, Harper is convinced that he was murdered, and her first suspect is her uncle, who has been sleeping with her mother. With the help of her ex-girlfriend Talia and her best friend (sometimes with benefits) Holden, Harper is determined to find her father’s killer. But when Caius, Talia’s father and Hamilton’s business partner, is also found dead, Harper realizes the answer to Hamilton’s murder is more complicated than she had initially realized. As Harper begins to see her father’s ghost in the form of a teenage Hamlet everywhere and starts slipping into hallucinations of his murder that end with blood on her hands, one thing becomes clear—in order to uncover the truth about what happened to her father, Harper has to confront her own demons and ones that haunt the Hayes family. Writer: Dana Mele. Artist: Valentina Pinti. Colorist: Chiara Di Francia.
These are challenging times for all of us and we are particularly sensitive to the needs of children to continue their learning and to reap the many benefits that literature brings them. We at Chicken House and Scholastic are in full support of providing a wide range of online learning activities for kids during this time of school closures. We have been moved by the numerous requests we’ve received from people across the country who are trying to address these needs by posting readings of books online for children to access. We want to support you in your efforts and ask that if you choose to read your book online to your students you follow these guidelines: • At the beginning of your video, please state that you are presenting your reading “with permission from Chicken House books.” • You post your reading through your school’s platform or another closed group or platform with limited access for your students. Should this not be possible please let me know. • Since we view this as a way to compensate for the closure of schools, please delete your video or disable access no later than 5pm 30th April 2020. By posting a reading, you are agreeing to abide by the above terms.
Books Create Australia, the collaboration between the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA), the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), the Australian Publishers Association (APA) and the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced a special arrangement for library storytimes during the COVID-19 outbreak.
For the duration of the pandemic, virtual story-times will be sanctioned by an industry agreement. It is the policy of the Boards of the APA and ASA that their members suspend any requirements for copyright permission to be sought, in order to allow libraries to make recordings or livestream storytimes so children aren’t denied this important and much-loved service.
The Association of Canadian Publishers has formed the Read Aloud Canadian Books Program with Access Copyright.
The Program will allow, on a temporary basis, a waiver of licence fees related to the reading of all or part of select books from participating publishers and posting of the video recording online.
Dinosaur Books is an independent publisher that produces books for children aged 5 – 14. They aim to publish stories for young readers that combine exciting, page turning adventure with ideas that encourage readers to think.
Lantana Publishing is a young, independent publishing house producing award-winning picture books for children. Lantana’s mission is to select outstanding writing from around the world, working with prize-winning authors and illustrators from many countries, while at the same time nurturing new writing talent.
Knights Of publishes commercial children’s fiction – distributed through the UK, Ireland and Europe. We’re all about hiring as widely, and as diversely as possible, to make sure the books we publish give windows into as many worlds as possible – from what’s on the page all the way to sales copy.
We are passionate about children’s books and we believe everyone loves a good story! However, some children struggle to find books in which they see themselves and their experiences. So at Alanna Books, we aim to produce stories that are naturally inclusive of a wide range of people and experiences – so ALL children can enjoy them.
Tamarind Books was founded by Verna Wilkins in 1987 with the mission of redressing the balance of diversity in children’s publishing. Over twenty years later, the world has changed but the problem is still very relevant today. And so, Tamarind still exists to put diversity ‘in the picture’.
HopeRoad Publishing is an exciting, independent publisher, vigorously supporting voices too often neglected by the mainstream. We are promoters of literature with a special focus on Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. At the heart of our publishing is the love of outstanding writing from writers you, the reader, would have otherwise missed.
Our mission is to change the way we all think about African writing. We think that contemporary African prose should be rooted in African experience in all its diversity, whether set in filthy-yet-sexy megacities such as Lagos or Kinshasa, in little-known rural communities, in the recent past or indeed the near future. We also think the time has come to build a new body of African writing that links writers across different times and spaces.
An independent publishing company committed to producing beautiful, original books for children. Established in 2015, our energy and passion stems from our belief that stories act as bridges – providing pathways to new experiences whilst connecting us to here and there. Our stories are visually rich and conceptually meaningful. They give children unique perspectives on universal themes such as love, friendship and freedom and a greater awareness of the diverse and colourful world we live in. We have a range of books from Iranian authors and illustrators including two beautiful tales by Rumi and one from The Book of Kings. We are also developing a programme of intercultural projects, pairing authors and illustrators from around the globe.
Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd is a fresh and exciting new independent publishing house based in London. We publish adult fiction and non-fiction, including illustrated books, which cross linguistic, racial, gender and cultural boundaries – books in many ways as cosmopolitan as our city.
In honour of its 15 year anniversary, Quirk Books is launching a year-long celebration of books and pop culture, called Book Pop!
Quirk has not forgotten their many fans in Britain and have launched UK versions of their reading guides! Also on offer are downloadable posters and other resources to celebrate their amazing and quirky books!
So if you are searching for activities to run with your teen groups or classes in the coming months drop by Quirk Books Book Pop! and see what is on offer!
Hi Juliet welcome to Teen Librarian and thank you for giving up your time for the Q&A
I am sure that almost everyone in the library and book world already knows who you are but for those who do not would you like to introduce yourself to the audience?
My husband and I founded Oneworld almost thirty years ago to publish quality non-fiction on a broad range of subjects, always looking for ways to make big ideas accessible and interesting to a wide readership, and we now publish over 100 titles a year. Six years ago I launched a fiction list to publish beautifully written novels that showcase emotionally engaging stories, strong narratives and original literary voices, which is going from strength to strength and now makes up about a third of our output.
What spurred you on to start a YA imprint?
I had a chance conversation with a children’s publisher at a conference who mentioned that issue-driven novels are very popular in the YA market, and since many of our adult novels deal with big issues and explore the human condition in all its vagaries, like all the best fiction, we thought extending our approach into the YA market made a lot of sense. I have four children myself, so we are focusing on publishing the sort of books I would have loved them to read as teenagers!
YA publishing has been growing year on year – do you have any idea why it is so popular?
I think right now some of the best writing is popping up in YA. Publishers of YA fiction are bringing out some incredibly well written and exciting novels – they have set the bar very high – and this is clearly resonating with a wide range of readers, not only teens but also many adults. They are also putting a lot of effort into great cover designs and innovative marketing, and the YA market is particularly responsive to creative social media campaigns.
I read recently that you will also be publishing narrative non-fiction, do you have any authors lined up or will you be initially focusing on your fiction titles?
Our primary focus at the moment will be on fiction, but we have recently published an edition of Jared Diamond’s best-selling non-fiction book, The Third Chimpanzee, adapted for teenagers, which we’re very excited about. And making cutting-edge research and ideas – from science to history and global issues – interesting and accessible to a YA market is a challenge we would love to embrace, so watch this space.
The books are all so different – Mindwalker is a dystopian tale, Conversion is a modern retelling of The Crucible and written by a descendent of three of the accused women from the Salem trials (which is awesome); Nest is a contemporary drama and Minus Me is one I have just started so am not sure what exactly it is yet. How did you find these authors and why did you choose them for your first Rock the Boat titles?
They have all come to us in different ways. I met a translator who had read Minus Me in its original Norwegian and adored it (it is a beautiful story about a teenage girl who develops a heart condition and comes up with a bucket list of things every teenager should do at 13), and her enthusiasm was so infectious I immediately contacted the publisher and asked for the English-language rights, while Mindwalker came up in a chance conversation with a literary agent, and when I described what we were looking for in our YA novels, she immediately recommended Mindwalker and its sequel, Mindstormer (out in 2016). Conversion and Nest both came with passionate recommendations from American editors.
How many titles are you planning on releasing this year?
This year we are publishing 6 titles for YA and Middle Grade readers, with two novels coming out in the Autumn. The first is a fantastic fantasy novel called Illuminae, the first in a trilogy, jointly written by two bestselling YA authors, Jay Kristoff (author of the Lotus War series) and Amie Kaufman (author of the Starbound series). It’s set on a spaceship in the year 2575 in a time of deadly plague, and told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents, including emails, schematics, military files, medical reports, interviews, and more. And we are also re-publishing Richard Adams’ classic The Plague Dogs, about two dogs who escape from a science lab in the Lake District, who may have been infected by a deadly virus that could put the public in danger.
The book Minus Me by Ingelin Røssland has been translated from Norwegian – translated YA titles are still fairly rare. Do you plan on introducing more non-English authors to young readers?
We are certainly very keen to sign up the best YA writing from around the world, so we will include translated fiction whenever we find titles we think will work well for our audience. We have both a Mexican and Russian YA novel currently under consideration, and last year we published the Korean novel The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang, which was very popular with both a teen audience as well as adults. Looking further ahead, we are delighted to welcome Sarah Odedina as Publisher of Rock the Boat, whose credits include serving as Editor in Chief at Bloomsbury where she oversaw the publication of the Harry Potter series, among others, and she is planning to publish around 15 titles a year going forward, some of which will definitely be fiction in translation, as well as fiction that engages with diversity.
It would be unfair to ask you which titles are your favourites so I instead I will ask which book you would suggest readers pick up first when they discover them?
That’s an impossible question to answer – we publish what we love, so I think it will depend on where readers’ interests lie. Our list is deliberately wide-ranging, from Conversion and a group of teenage girls in the 1690s who accuse a woman of withcraft, to Mindwalker, set in the distant future, which asks interesting questions about the desirability of mind-wiping bad memories and the implications for state control. I hope readers will find each one a gem, a beautiful story, well told.
