Audible has announced the commission of family listening title, The Ice Children, by award-winning author M.G. Leonard, which will be its first Original Publishing family title.

The Ice Children, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale The Snow Queen, will be released in audio only on 17th November 2022. The Ice Children is a modern fairytale for the festive season which explores young people’s response to the current climate challenge.

We are thrilled by this acquisition. Macmillan Children’s Books, who publish Leonard’s popular and award-winning Adventures on Trains series with Sam Sedgman, will publish The Ice Children in November 2023.

The 2022 James Cropper Wainwright Prize longlist has been revealed and M.G. Leonard’s Twitch (published by Walker Books) is on the first longlist for children’s books. Named after much-loved nature writer Alfred Wainwright, the aim of the Prize is to inspire everyone to connect with nature and embrace the outdoors.

The prize shortlists will be announced on 28th July and the winners’ announcement will be made live on 7th September at The London Wetland Centre.

Sarah Levison, editorial director at Farshore has snapped up two more books in the Dread Wood comedy horror series from "Queen of Horror for kids" Jennifer Killick.

The first book in the series Dread Wood, launched in April, was picked as a Book of the Month in the Week Junior and a best book for Easter in the i and Irish Independent. The publisher has since accelerated the series publishing schedule to meet demand, launching a new book every six months and bringing forward the publication date of Killick’s next book, Dread Wood: Fear Ground.

"Endlessly illuminating, challenging and compelling. Bi is a vivid and vital read" - Musa Okwonga, author and co-host of the Stadio Podcast

Published today by Canongate, Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality, Shaw explores all that we know about the world's largest sexual minority. From the hunt for a bi gene, to the relationship between bisexuality and consensual non-monogamy, to asylum seekers who need to prove their bisexuality in a court of law, there is more to explore than most have ever realised.

Congratulations, Julia!

We are delighted that Twitch by M.G. Leonard won the 2022 Crimefest Award for Best Crime Novel for Children at the conference over the weekend. Crimefest is a convention for people who like to read an occasional crime novel as well as for die-hard fanatics. Drawing top crime novelists, readers, editors, publishers and reviewers from around the world, it gives all delegates the opportunity to celebrate the genre so this is a wonderful accolade.

Congratulations, Maya!

Secrets and illusions abound as a group of young magicians competes for the prize of a lifetime in this gripping adventure, the first in an enthralling new series from debut author Justyn Edwards, published by Walker Books today.

“Magic is about dreaming what is impossible and making it possible. It's the innocent young mind in all of us that loves it. We want to be filled with wonder. We want to believe. I want the winner of this competition and the recipient of my legacy to dare to dream big. So, let The Great Fox Hunt begin."

We are thrilled that Fault Lines has been longlisted for this Prize. Derek Owusu, chair of the judges and winner of the 2020 Desmond Elliott Prize, will be joined by journalist and author Symeon Brown and Cheltenham Literature Festival’s Lyndsey Fineran to choose the shortlist, which will be announced on 7th June, and a final winner, to be revealed on 1st July.

Fault Lines was the first title for Francesca Main’s Phoenix imprint, a story of rediscovering freedom after a monotonous marriage.

Congratulations to Jennifer, whose book, Dread Wood, is published today. The brand new must-read middle-grade novel from the author of super-spooky Crater Lake. Perfect for 9+ fans of R.L.Stine’s Goosebumps.

“Deliciously scary and hilarious comedy-horror” The Guardian

It's basically the worst school detention ever. When classmates (but not mate-mates) Hallie, Angelo, Gustav and Naira are forced to come to school on a SATURDAY, they think things can’t get much worse. But they’re wrong. Things are about to get seriously scary.

Congratulations to Jennifer Killick with her book, Crater Lake: Evolution, and Maya Gabrielle, for her book, Twitch, both shortlisted for the CrimeFest Award for best crime book for children.

Crater Lake: Evolution, is the second book in Jennifer’s Crater Lake series published by Firefly Books and Twitch is the first in Maya’s new series, published by Walker Books.

The 2022 CrimeFest Awards will be presented at the convention Gala Awards Dinner on 14 May, 2022.

We are delighted to that Tsunami Girl has been shortlisted for the 2022 Yoto Carnegie prize.

Illustrated by Chie Kutsuwada, with words by Julian Sedgwick, the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami is at the heart of Tsunami Girl, a part-prose, part-manga coming-of-age story.

The winners will be announced and celebrated on Thursday 16th June at a lunchtime ceremony at The British Library.

Simon Thorogood at Canongate has acquired Cacophony of Bone, the second book from nature writer Kerri ní Dochartaigh, to be published in April 2023.

"Cacophony of Bone maps the circle of a year – a journey from one place to another, field notes of a life – from one winter, to the next," the synopsis explains. "This is a time like no other, but it is also exactly like any other, too. The longest day came, as always it does – and the shortest came, too – in turn.”

Ní Dochartaigh is the author of Thin Places which was highly commended by the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2021. She has written for the Guardian, Irish Times, the BBC, Winter Papers and others.

A thrilling and hugely entertaining adventure story' – David Walliams on The Highland Falcon Thief

Ride into danger with Hal and Uncle Nat on the fifth breathtaking Adventures on Trains Mystery, Sabotage on the Solar Express, from bestselling award-winners M. G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman. Published by Macmillan.

Happy publication day to Maya and Sam!

Climb onboard and travel across six continents, 34 countries and numerous cities via twelve of the world's most amazing train journeys. Sam delights with his descriptive and illuminative text about train journeys including the Eurostar , Orient Express , the first Transcontinental Railroad and the Rejuvenation Express . Each locomotive adventure reveals some of the rich history, culture, landscape and wildlife of the countries travelled.

Detailed, colourful illustrations by Sam Brewster brings the facts and journeys to life. Epic Adventures will appeal to culture-, travel-, locomotive-fans of all ages.

Published by Macmillan. Happy Publication Day, Sam!

Pitched as for readers of Nomadland and The Undocumented Americans, journalist Alice Driver's The Life and Death of the American Worker, chronicling the lives and deaths of immigrant essential workers at America's largest meat and poultry processing company Tyson Foods, exposing how immigration law and labor exploitation put growth and profit over human life sold at auction to Alessandra Bastagli at Astra House, by Rebecca Wearmouth at PFD (North American) on behalf of Kirsty McLachlan at Morgan Green Creatives.

Alice Driver is a writer from Oark, Arkansas, in the Ozark Mountains. She works with National Geographic, The New York Review of Books, and Oxford American, and has work forthcoming in The New Yorker.

Gillian Fitzgerald-Kelly at Picador has triumphed in a four-way auction for The Archaeology of Loss: Life, Love and the Art of Dying, the debut memoir by Sarah Tarlow.

Sarah Tarlow is an archaeologist and was awarded the chair in archaeology at the University of Leicester. However, in the years following her appointment, Tarlow’s husband Mark began to suffer from a progressive but undiagnosed illness. Though Tarlow has devoted her study to how we anticipate and experience grief, she was unprepared for the realities of losing someone she loved.

Her book is a “fiercely honest and unique memoir” which describes a collective experience with an “unflinching and singular gaze” that will resonate with readers of The Salt Path (Penguin) and H is for Hawk (Vintage), Picador said.

Congratulations to Nina Mingya Powles - her book, Small Bodies of Water has been shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year. The award, which is open to authors from all across the world, celebrates excellence in literary travel writing.

This lyrical collection of interconnected essays explores the bodies of water that separate and connect us, as well as everything from migration, food, family, earthquakes and the ancient lunisolar calendar to butterflies.

"A distinctive new voice: attentive and tender" Amy Liptrot

Sarah Rigby of Elliot & Thompson has snapped up a memoir by writer Nancy Campbell, whose recent book Fifty Words for Snow (Elliot & Thompson) was Waterstones’ November Non-Fiction Book of the Month.

In her memoir, Campbell explains how in the wake of a traumatic lockdown, she bought an old caravan and drove it into a strip of neglected woodland between the canal and railway outside Oxford. It is the first home she has ever owned and she wonders if it can provide the space she needs to rebuild her life. The publisher described the book as "an intimate journal across the span of a defining summer" calling Thunderstone "a celebration of transformation and an invitation to approach life with imagination and to embrace change bravely".

MGC is delighted that Emily’s debut novel, Fault Lines, has been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Prize.

Mizuki is a Japanese housewife. She has a hardworking husband, two adorable children and a beautiful Tokyo apartment.

Then, one rainy night, she meets Kiyoshi, a successful restaurateur. In him, she rediscovers freedom, friendship, a voice, and the neon, electric pulse of the city she has always loved. But the further she falls into their relationship, the clearer it becomes that she is living two lives – and in the end, we can choose only one.

Published by Phoenix Books, alluring, compelling, startlingly honest and darkly funny, Fault Lines is a bittersweet love story and a daring exploration of modern relationships from a writer to watch.

Translation rights with Phoenix Books.

Joe Zigmond at John Murray has secured The Queen’s Favourites: The Tangled Lives of Marie Antoinette’s Ladies-in-Waiting by Emily Brand.

An intimate view of one of the most astonishing, and bloodthirsty episodes in Western history, told from the heart of Europe’s most exquisite royal court, its notorious queen, and her circle of ladies-in-waiting. Charting the rise and fall of Marie Antoinette’s treasured favourites – Lamballe, Campan and Polignac – this group biography reveals the roles played by women in fuelling and ultimately falling victim to the call for revolution, and how violently it scattered them to very different fates.

US rights have sold to Amy Cherry at Norton by Rebecca Wearmouth at PFD. All translation rights represented by PFD.

Each year, The Radio Academy recognises individuals who exemplify excellence through an extraordinary career and lifetime of service to the industry, by making them a Fellow of The Radio Academy. This year, the Trustees of the Radio Academy honoured Miranda Sawyer with a Fellowship, for her unending support of audio and radio as a writer/critic. She'll be only the second radio critic to become a Fellow, the first being Gillian Reynolds.

Miranda was also shortlisted for an Audio Production Award for Best Host for her series, Sound and Vision on BBC Radio 6 - the winners will be announced in a ceremony on 24 November.

Congratulations, Miranda!

Simon Thorogood at Canongate has acquired Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality, a "demystifying" and "humanising" insight into bisexuality by Dr Julia Shaw. Bi will explore how people have defined and measured bisexuality over the past 150 years, and sets out the important role it has played in the fight for queer rights.

Julia Shaw is a psychological scientist at UCL and part of Queer Politics at Princeton University, which works for LGBT+ equality, democracy and civil rights. She is completing a MA in queer history, and is the founder of the international Bisexual Research Group. She is the author of The Memory Illusion (Random House), which was published in 20 languages, and Making Evil (Canongate), which has been translated into 10 languages.

We are thrilled that Nancy Campbell’s book, Fifty Words for Snow, published by Elliot and Thompson, has been chosen as Waterstones’ non-fiction Book of the Month.

From mountain tops and frozen seas to city parks and desert hills, writer and Arctic traveller Nancy Campbell digs deep into the meanings of fifty words for snow. Under her gaze, each of these linguistic snow crystals offers a whole world of myth and story.

'Absolutely exquisite. This little book is a work of art. It is impossible to imagine the reader who will not love it.' - Horatio Clare, author of The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal

Congratulations to Suzanne O’Sullivan who has been shortlisted for the £25,000 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize.

Inspired by a poignant encounter with the sleeping refugee children of Sweden, Wellcome Prize-winning neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan travels the world to visit other communities who have also been subject to outbreaks of so-called ‘mystery’ illnesses.

The winner will be revealed at a ceremony in London on 29th November.

Published by Macmillan in the UK, and Pantheon in the US, all foreign rights are represented by PFD.

Congratulations to MG Leonard whose book Twitch - published by Walker Books - wins Sainsbury’s Children’s Fiction Book of the Year.

On the first day of the summer holidays, Twitch arrives at his secret hide to find police everywhere: a convicted robber has broken out of prison and is hiding in Aves Wood. Can Twitch use his talents for birdwatching to hunt for the dangerous prisoner and find the missing loot?

“Leonard knows her audience and the jeopardy comes in flocks ... Find your nest, curl up and enjoy.” The Times, Children's Book of the Week

Rhiannon Ward’s second book, The Shadowing, is published today with Trapeze.

When well-to-do Hester learns of her sister Mercy's death at a Nottinghamshire workhouse, she travels to Southwell to find out how her sister ended up at such a place.

As Hester investigates, she discovers a conspiracy that someone is determined to keep a secret, whatever the cost.

For fans of The Silent Companions and The Familiars, a propulsive gothic mystery that invites the reader to unlock the secrets of Nottinghamshire's infamous Southwell workhouse.

Congratulations to MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman - their fourth book in the Adventures on Trains series is published today by Macmillan, as Harrison Beck investigates an ancient family curse high in the German mountains.

A mysterious letter from an old friend asks Hal and Uncle Nat to help investigate a spooky supernatural mystery. Legend has it the Kratzensteins, a family of rich and powerful railway tycoons, are cursed, but there is no such thing as a curse, is there?...

In the next spine-tingling Eerie-on-Sea mystery, shady magic and gloomy ancient legends loom large once more as Herbie Lemon and Violet Parma have to deal with the threat that the Shadowghast—an ancient spirit in a lantern – is now posing to the town. Published today by Walker Books, Shadowghast is the third book in the series.

A creepy magician with a shadowy act. A legend that goes back to the dawn of time. Eerie-on-Sea just got stranger. And darker...

'Taylor's magical touch makes you believe the impossible.' - Catherine Doyle.

Congratulations, Thomas.

We are delighted that Bastien Bonlivre is Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month for September.

Set amidst the landmarks of Paris, Clare’s enchanting adventure makes perfect reading for all young bookworms as Bastien attempts to finish his parents’ story whilst thwarting the ingenious schemes of a master criminal.

The open door felt like an invitation, or a trap. Bastien wasn't sure which, but with no other choice, he stepped inside...and hoped he'd make it out again alive.

Published by Usborne Publishing, this is a tale of friendship, hope, bravery and the power of imagination.

The happiest of publication days to Nina and her beautiful book, Small Bodies of Water, published today by Canongate Books.

Home is many people and places and languages, some separated by oceans.

Nina Mingya Powles first learned to swim in Borneo – where her mother was born and her grandfather studied freshwater fish. There, the local swimming pool became her first body of water. Through her life there have been others that have meant different things, but have still been, in their own way, home: from the wild coastline of New Zealand to a pond in northwest London.

In powerful prose, Small Bodies of Water weaves together personal memories, dreams and nature writing.

We're delighted to share the news that Kerri ni Dochartaigh’s Thin Places has been shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing.

In Thin Places, a mixture of memoir, history and nature writing, Kerri explores how nature helped her heal, how violence and poverty are never more than a stone's throw from beauty and hope, and how we are, once again, allowing our borders to become hard, and terror to creep back in. Kerri asks us to reclaim our landscape through language and study, and remember that the land we fight over is much more than lines on a map. It will always be ours but, at the same time, it never really was.

The winner will announced in early September.

We are so thrilled that Octavia’s debut, This Ragged Grace, will be published by Simon Thorogood at Canongate.

Octavia tells the story of her journey to recovery from alcohol addiction, and the parallel story of her father’s descent into Alzheimer’s. As Octavia moves between London, the island of Stromboli, New York, Cornwall and Margate, each place offers something new but ultimately always delivers the same message: that wherever you go, you take yourself with you.

US and translation rights are represented by PFD.

Co-author of the successful mid-grade series, Adventures on Trains, Sam Sedgman’s debut solo project will be published by Macmillan Children’s Books next February. Entitled Epic Adventures: Explore the World in 12 Amazing Train Journeys, it is a nonfiction book, illustrated by Sam Brewster, exploring the most amazing railway journeys on the planet.

For fans of trains and travel of all ages, this book is packed with the thrill and wonder of exploring the world by rail!

Congratulations, Sam.