Faber signs two-book deal from Alexia Casale


Faber has landed Sing If You Can’t Dance, a story about a teenage girl coming to terms with a disabilit, in a two-book deal from Alexia Casale leſt.


Publisher Leah Thaxton acquired world rights from Kristina Pérez at The Zeno Agency. The first book will publish in paperback on 6th July 2023.


“When Ven starts losing her mobilit in her teens, her dream of being a dancer is over before it starts,” the synopsis reads. “But Ven is unstoppable so, if she can’t dance, she’ll sing, whipping her hopeless school choir into shape and finding them an amazing gig to prove that life isn’t over just yet. An upliſting story of music and unexpected friendships that captures the breathlessness of first love and the seminal importance of hope.” Also published with Faber,


Casale’s début novel, The Bone Dragon, was shortlisted for the 2014 Waterstones Children’s


Book Prize and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis. It was a Book of the Year for the Financial Times and Independent, as well as being longlisted for the Branford Boase. Her second novel, House of Windows, is featured on Reading Well’s mental health booklist. She is also the director of YAShot, a young adult and children’s literature festival providing free authors visits to libraries paired with disadvantaged schools. “I am beyond delighted to be continuing my YA journey with the editorial might of the brilliant Faber Children’s behind me,” she said. “The whole team have completely embraced the fact that Sing If You Can’t Dance is a story about first love, friendship and music that just happens to have a disabled protagonist; they’ve always spoken of Ven as the spiky, unapologetic, ‘sarcasm personified’ character she is, never diminishing the issues she’s facing.”


Reporting Ruth Comerford Picture books to the fore for Andersen Press


Andersen Press is presenting a selection of new picture books at this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair from both established creatives, including Waterstones Children’s Book Prize-winner Sally Nicholls, and newcomers to its list. Titles include The Nose,


Toes and Tummy Book, written by Nicholls and illustrated by Gosia Herba, an interactive book that shows many different families as they play their own games to name


Walker Books has bought The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice from début author Rachel Chivers Khoo left in a two-book deal. World rights for two titles


Walker acquires début from Chivers Khoo


TheBookseller.com


were acquired by fiction editorial director Annalie Grainger from Claire Wilson, at the RCW agency. Publishing in February 2023, The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice will be illustrated throughout in black and white by award-winning Finnish illustrator Teemu Juhani, who is represented by Robyn Newton at The Bright Agency. Aimed at readers aged 7+, the story follows the magical world of


different bits of the body, which will be released in the UK in spring 2023. Andersen has already sold rights for it in Brazil, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Netherlands and Portugal. It is also selling Nicholls’ narrative non-fiction picture book with illustrator Carolina Rabei, Who Makes an Ocean?, which shows what our oceans and seas are made of and is being released in summer 2023. Other picture books Andersen is presenting include:


wishkeepers, creatures that grant and care for wishes, and about holding onto hope. “When 10-year-old Felix makes


a special wish, little does he realise he is about to be recruited as an apprentice wishkeeper,” the synopsis explains. “Along with wishkeeper extraordinaire Rupus Beewinkle, Felix must now save wishes from the terrifying wishsnatcher, who wants to destroy hopes and dreams everywhere.” “Rachel’s imagination just


shines from the page, from the gorgeous character names to the


The Blue Umbrella written by Emily Ann Davidson and illustrated by Momoko Abe, a book about the power of one little girl’s generosity and how that can bring a community together, which has already sold US rights and will publish in the UK spring 2023; and two brand new titles illustrated by Zehra Hicks. Her first is Look Out! There’s a Monster Coming! written by Karl Newson, and the other is Panda and Penguin Find a Thing.


charming and intricate details about the world of wishkeeping,” Grainger said. “Her story has an effortless and timeless quality to it, making it a book that readers will want to return to again and again.” Chivers Khoo studied English


literature at Oxford University and has a Masters in Creative Writing from Queen’s University Belfast. She works in book publishing and lives in London. The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice is her début novel. “I’m over the moon to be


working with the brilliant team at Walker Books,” she said.


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Photography: Paul Akinrinlola


Photography: Louisa at Art by LAW


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