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CHILDREN’S PUBLISHING


WORDS BY CAROLINE CARPENTER


WINNING FORMULA


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cotish children’s fiction has come into the spotlight over the past couple of years, thanks to a raſt of award wins and exciting new voices. Edinburgh-based Barrington Stoke became the first Scotish publisher to receive the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2020 with Anthony


McGowan’s Lark. This year the company, which specialises in accessible books and is more than two decades old, will publish titles from high-profile authors including Ross Montgomery, Marcus Sedgwick and Anna James. Another long-established indie located in Edinburgh is Floris Books, founded in 1976. The largest children’s publisher in Scotland, it publishes a wide range of books for all ages.


Newer Scotish kids publishers include Litle Door Books and Cranachan Publishing, both founded in 2016. In the past two years, Oban-based Litle Door has extended its publishing range from picture books into board books and chapter books. Based on the Isle of Lewis, Cranachan publishes children’s and teen fiction with a Scotish flavour. Last year, it was Highly Commended in the British Book Awards’ Small Press of the Year category.


WORKING TO IMPROVE NEURODIVERSE REPRESENTATION IN PUBLISHING


AUTHOR ELLE MCNICOLL IS


Award-winning author T L Huchu has also recently given his home cit a fantastical twist in his first YA novel, The Library of the Dead (Pan Macmillan), the start of his dystopian Edinburgh Nights series.


MAISIE CHAN’S SECOND NOVEL IS OUT THIS JUNE


DEAN ATTA WON THE 2020 STONEWALL BOOK AWARD


Scotland has also produced several successful children’s authors, including Costa Children’s Book Award-winner Brian Conaghan who was born and raised in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire. Since the release of her 2020 début, Elle McNicoll has picked up several accolades, including the Blue Peter Book Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. The latest title from McNicoll, Like A Charm (Knights Of), is a middle- grade story set in a magical version of Scotland’s capital.


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Meanwhile, Dean Ata’s 2019 début YA, The Black Flamingo (Hodder Children’s Books), won several prizes, including the American Library Association’s Stonewall Book Award. His next YA novel in verse, Only on the Weekends (HCB, 12th May 2022), is a queer love story set in Scotland. Maisie Chan’s work includes Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths (Piccadilly Press), currently longlisted for the Branford Boase Award, and facilitating the Bubble Tea Writers Network for UK-based writers of East and Southeast Asian descent. With organisations and networks such as Scotish Book Trust, Glasgow Children’s Writers Group and Children’s Books North supporting children’s creatives and publishing professionals in Scotland, it is no wonder Chan previously told The Bookseller that her move to the country was “one of the best things for my writing career”.


Maisie Chan’s Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths is a warm and witty read that aims to challenge cultural stereotypes. Dean Atta’s The Black Flamingo follows a Black gay teen as he reclaims his identity.


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