1. Please tell us a little about your background and what brought you to children’s publishing.
During a working holiday in New Zealand following graduation I got a temporary job with Penguin Books in Auckland and suddenly everything fell into place and I knew what I wanted to do with my life after all! Having experienced a little of both adult and children’s publishing, the decision to become a children’s books editor was an easy one.

2. What is your all-time favorite book?
What an impossible question – there are so many, and each suits a different mood or occasion. For comfort, sick-bed reading, for example, Pride and Prejudice or The Secret Garden every time! One current favourite picture book is Lisa Prend l’Avion from the fabulous Lisa and Gaspard series by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben (Hachette).

3. What book(s) are you proudest of having worked on? Why?
Another impossible one. It’s usually something you’re working on at the time. One personal favourite from the past is The Last Polar Bears by Harry Horse – the original novel, submitted as an unsolicited, deliberately tea-stained manuscript. It still really makes me laugh, and it’s been very pleasing to see the series grow, and develop into both a picture book and TV animation.

4. How would you describe the publishing program at Macmillan Children’s Books? What kind of books to do you publish and how many new books do you acquire each year?
Fresh and varied, including a starry array of bestselling authors and artists in each area. Campbell are undisputed market leader for baby and toddler novelties, the fiction list is outstanding in both literary merit and commercial success, the poetry list is a prize-winning one and the picture books, led from the front by The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, is, we hope, fast developing into one to watch! On the picture book list, we publish approximately 20 new titles a year, plus five or six novelty projects. Our particular strength in the co-edition market has given us the freedom to publish authors, and particularly artists, with a distinctively “different” feel, including, for example, foreign artists such as Thomas Müller, Barbara Nascimbeni and Ingrid Godon.

What opportunities are there for projects other than novels and picture books? (short story collections, poetry, anthologies, etc.)

Macmillan has a strong poetry list, and a reputation for exciting novelty projects.

5. Are you aware of any major differences between the UK market for children’s books and the US market? Do you think they are becoming more similar or less so?
Yes, there are certainly differences. For picture books, these range from the oft-quoted no hedgehogs, no chimney pots, no nudity considerations to more subtle aesthetic differences, that instant aura of being a “very American” or “very British” book that is sometimes hard to explain. (For example, Nick Sharratt is huge in the UK, not popular in the US.)

6. Are there any books currently on your list that you would consider quintessentially Macmillan?

The Gruffalo!

7. What do you look for in a picture book? What thrills you?
A story or a character or a perspective that excites me. A distinctive authorial voice, full of rhythm and music that you can’t resist reading aloud. A satisfying shape, a sense that the author has taken the reader on a journey, however simple. And then pictures that work perfectly with the text, again with an individuality, a personality that makes any book itself and no other. And, of course, a design that brings the two together in an exciting, or reassuring, or startling way – whatever is most appropriate to that particular book. The art makes you pick the book up the first time; the text is what makes you want to pick it up again, and again. The most visually beautiful or arresting picture book in the world doesn’t do it for me if the text is poor.

8. Could you please give an example of writing and or art (in published or non-published form) that you are excited by?
Holly Swain’s Pedro the Brave, Mini Grey’s Egg Drop, anything by Lauren Child and – just delivered today – the new book by Christine Morton and Thomas Müller, Mr Jack, that we will be publishing next year: a fabulously witty book full of comedy, incidental detail, and tremendous style. Or, on the other hand, the much gentler but utterly perfect, Once Upon a Time, Upon a Nest by Jonathan Emmett and Rebecca Harry – warm, tender artwork and a charming, simple story beautifully told.

9. Anything you are definitely not looking for?
Cartoony, very “mass market” artwork, or, indeed, stories.

10. What, for you, is the role of the “ideal editor?”
A facilitator, a mediator, a champion. Not afraid to push an idea, a character, a design, a piece of writing or artwork to the limit; not blinkered by ego into always thinking she knows best. A creative support and upholder of artistic integrity . . . with a sound commercial head.

11. Are you aware of any trends in children’s publishing at the moment? How do you feel about them?
Crazy fiction advances – I hope it’s not a trend set to overtake the picture book world!

12. What say does the sales/marketing department have in the look or type of the book you produce?
They are involved at the moment of acquisition and then in the cover design – but in terms of reacting to what the creative team are showing rather than dictating what should be done. Discussions are sometimes heated, but, in my experience, always constructive and conducted in an open, supportive atmosphere that can only help the individual books, and the shape of the list overall.

13. Will you look at illustration samples? If so, do you advise an illustrator to send new samples every six months, or so?
Yes, we always like to see samples from new illustrators. But I would advise an artist to send work certainly no more than every six months, and to avoid busy periods if possible (e.g. in the run-up to Bologna or Frankfurt when there is less time to look at things.)

14.Are you accepting unsolicited manuscripts at the moment?
Yes, but within the context of a very full publishing programme, with space only for the exceptional!

15. What do you see as some of the common mistakes authors could avoid making when submitting?
Overlong covering letters (a picture book text should really speak for itself) and overcomplicated artwork directions. And avoid obvious signs of illiteracy – surprisingly common!

16. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Only that many of these questions really deserve much longer and more thoughtful answers than have been possible here!


Many thanks!