HarperCollins Publishers Announces Two-Book Deal With Victoria Aveyard
New York, NY — HarperCollins Publishers announced today the acquisition of a two-book deal with Victoria Aveyard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Red Queen series. Suzie Townsend sold North American rights on behalf of New Leaf Literary and Media, Inc. to Kristen Pettit, Executive Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books.
Book one in the newly signed two-book deal, set to publish in 2018, will be the fourth installment in the epic Red Queen series, which focuses on a world divided by blood. Those with Red blood are commoners and serve the Silver-blooded elite, who have been gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare Barrow is scraping by as a thief until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court, where she discovers she has an ability all her own—even though her blood is Red. The second book in the deal, a to-be-determined novel, is scheduled for release in 2019.
“Victoria Aveyard burst onto the scene as the only first-time author to debut at #1 on the New York Times Young Adult bestseller list,” said Suzanne Murphy, President and Publisher of HarperCollins Children’s Books. “We are enormously proud of her success and are thrilled to make HarperCollins her home.”
Kristen Pettit adds, “Victoria Aveyard’s talent is immense, undeniable, and extremely rare. Her scenes leap from the page and immerse you in her intricately wrought world. I am thrilled to continue to work with Victoria to bring her particular brand of gripping, visceral prose to readers everywhere.”
The highly anticipated second novel in Aveyard’s Red Queen series, Glass Sword, will publish February 9, 2016, with the third novel to follow in 2017. In addition, two e-novellas set in the Red Queen world, Queen Song and Steel Scars, are set to release September 1, 2015, and January 5, 2016, respectively. Red Queen has sold into 31 territories and is already a worldwide bestseller. Finally, movie rights for Red Queen were sold to Universal Studios. Gennifer Hutchison (Breaking Bad) penned the script and Elizabeth Banks is in talks to direct.
ABOUT VICTORIA AVEYARD:
Victoria Aveyard is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Queen. Victoria was born and raised in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a small town known only for the worst traffic rotary in the continental United States. She moved to Los Angeles to earn a BFA in screenwriting at the University of Southern California. She currently splits her time between the East and West coasts. As an author and screenwriter, she uses her career as an excuse to read too many books and watch too many movies. She has sold several television pilots and feature-length screenplays. You can visit her online at www.victoriaaveyard.com or on Twitter at @VictoriaAveyard.
ABOUT HARPERCOLLINS CHILDREN’S BOOKS:
HarperCollins Children’s Books is one of the leading publishers of children’s and teen books. Respected worldwide for its tradition of publishing quality, award-winning books for young readers, HarperCollins is home to many timeless treasures and bestsellers such as Charlotte’s Web, Goodnight Moon, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Where the Wild Things Are, The Graveyard Book and series including The Chronicles of Narnia, Ramona, Warriors, Pete the Cat, Fancy Nancy, Divergent, and The Selection. Consistently at the forefront of digital innovation, HarperCollins Children’s Books delights readers through engaging storytelling in all formats, including e-books and apps. HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, which is the second largest consumer book publisher in the world, has operations in 18 countries, and is a subsidiary of News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV). You can visit HarperCollins Children’s Books at www.harpercollinschildrens.com and www.epicreads.com and HarperCollins Publishers at corporate.HC.com.
