IN DEPTH
Company Spotlight Neon Squid
PRIDDY AND JOANNE CLARK OF NEON SQUID
Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group launches new Neon Squid imprint
Joanne Clark, Fiona Macdonald and Sam Priddy are seeking to make non-fiction the star of the show through ‘amazing illustrations and fun stories’ that look like fiction with new list Neon Squid
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Caroline Carpenter @carolinec1988
18 23rd March 2022
lmost two years aſter former DK staffers Joanne Clark, Fiona Macdonald and Sam Priddy joined Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (MCPG)
to launch their own list of accessible giſt non-fiction aimed at the middle-grade market, they are preparing to launch their first titles under the new Neon Squid imprint. Priddy, who serves as co-publisher alongside Clark and Macdonald, says of the move: “The three of us had worked very closely together at DK for a number of years and we had this idea for what would become Neon Squid. We met with Macmillan in America and they seemed to think it was something that would work really well, something a bit different from the other imprints they had.” Based in London, the trio report to Sally Poulson, global operations director at MCPG division Priddy Books. This should be
something of a homecoming for Sam Priddy, as his father is Roger Priddy, who founded his eponymous imprint in 2000. Clark adds: “While we had lots of creative freedom in our roles at DK, we just felt like we had our own ideas to bring to our non-fiction books. The guys at Macmillan were really excited about us bringing our own vision and they have been really supportive about geting our ideas out there.” Allison Verost, senior vice-president and publishing
director at MCPG, echoes this: “Non-fiction has been really exploding, particularly in the US, and we felt like the books that the team was making at DK was accessible non-fiction that is kid-friendly and can function both as a reference book and as a giſt book. We were excited about the team, and we were excited about the kind of books that they are going to make.”
Explaining the ethos behind Neon Squid, Priddy says:
“We wanted an imprint that really focuses on intriguing topics and looks at them through a different lens, trying to find a new perspective.” This is reflected in the imprint’s name, as Clark explains: “We wanted to get across this idea that we want to look at things from a slightly different
FROM LEFT: FIONA MACDONALD, SAM
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