Hachette Children’s Group and New Writing North renew partnership and seek new children’s authors from the North of England
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Hachette Children’s Group and New Writing North seek to discover new children’s authors from the North of England, as they mark the start of a new three-year agreement which will offer career-changing opportunities to six debut children’s authors.
The Hachette Children’s Novel Award 2023 is open until 10 March 2023 to unpublished manuscripts of middle-grade fiction by debut children’s authors based in the North.
Since 2018, the Hachette Children’s Novel Award has been a key strand to the Northern Writers’ Awards, which is England’s biggest writer development programme, supporting new unpublished work from the North of England. The award focuses on debut middle-grade authors and has discovered James Harris (2019), Hannah Durkan (2020), Andy Ruffell (2021) and Karon Alderman (2022), leading to publication by Hachette Children’s Group of:
- The Unbelievable Biscuit Factory by James Harris (Hodder Children’s Books, 2021)
- Happytown Must Be Destroyed by James Harris (Hodder Children’s Books, 2022)
- Zeina Starborn and the Sky Whale by Hannah Durkan (Orion Children’s Books, 2022)
- Zeina Starborn and the Emerald King by Hannah Durkan (forthcoming Orion Children’s Books, July 2023)
- Lily Grim and the City of Undone by Andy Ruffell (forthcoming Hodder Children’s Books, May 2023)
Now, the partnership is strengthening its offer by awarding the Hachette Children’s Novel Award to two writers each year, and a commitment to a three-year plan. Each winning writer will receive a £3000 cash prize alongside a 9-month programme of mentoring opportunities with Hachette Children’s Group and a children’s publishing agent, through which they will receive professional development sessions in the areas of editorial and design, sales, marketing and rights. The two winning writers will also receive entry into the Northern Writers’ Awards Talent Network, as a result benefitting from support from New Writing North, membership of the Society of Authors and networking opportunities.
The Hachette Children’s Novel Award supports the shared aims of Hachette Children’s Group and New Writing North to encourage work that engages with the lives of children everywhere. The award also builds on a broader long-term partnership between New Writing North and Hachette, who share offices in central Newcastle and co-deliver an MA in Publishing at Northumbria University.
The children’s author Rachel Faturoti; literary agent Lauren Gardner; Hachette Children’s Group’s senior commissioning editor, Polly Lyall Grant; and New Writing North senior programme manager, Will Mackie, will judge the Hachette Children’s Novel Award in 2023.