IN DEPTH


Company Spotlight Chicken House


ENJOYS AN AL FRESCO LUNCH AT ITS SOMERSET BASE


THE CHICKEN HOUSE TEAM


Ruling the roost: Chicken House co-founders toast 20 years in business


The maverick, ‘free-range’ kids’ list has been behind a number of breakout authors and series since its inception in 2000—and has no plans to alter its approach any time soon...


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Caroline Carpenter @carolinec1988


14 27th March 2020


t has been 20 years since Barry Cunningham, Rachel Hickman and Elinor Bagenal set up Somerset-based children’s publisher Chicken House.


The launch was spearheaded by publisher and manag- ing director Cunningham, who was fresh from his success establishing the children’s list at Bloomsbury, where he had signed début author J K Rowling. His vision with the new venture was to have “the freedom to do things differ- ently, to get out of the metropolitan bubble, to buy more widely and not have the pressures of doing the same things again and again”. For deput managing director Hickman, this adventurous approach was part of the appeal. She says: “I loved the thought of being part of something that was very idiosyncratic and personal.” Rights director Bagenal adds: “We’ve really forged something quite unique in the way that we all work together, and [we] have grown up together in many ways.”


Highlights over the past two decades have included being the first English-language publisher of Cornelia Funke’s books, including five New York Times children’s bestsellers; signing James Dashner’s hugely successful Maze Runner series; and launching the careers of prize- winning home-grown writers such as Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Kevin Brooks and recent Costa Children’s Book Award winner Jasbinder Bilan (who was discovered through the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year).


The company was named aſter an old-fashioned chicken coop in Cunningham’s garden, which seemed to fit with its aim to create a more organic, “free range” way of working. “From the very beginning we spread our wings more widely, encouraging new writers, translating books from other countries, other cultures, and working with scripts,” says Cunningham. The team believes that being outside London contributes to its success. According to Cunningham, the Georgian wool mill in Frome, Somerset, where Chicken House is based, offers a “less frenetic environment” for writers and staff, enabling them more time and space to develop work, and forge closer links with the local communit. Bagenal adds that being outside


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