Walker Books has secured Angie Thomas’s first middle grade book Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy in a three-book deal.
Fiction Publishing Director Annalie Grainger has acquired the UK and Commonwealth rights to Molly Ker Hawn’s Nick Blake and the Remarkables series from The Bent Agency, with first publication due in April 2023.
Aimed at readers ages nine and up, the first title in the fantasy series follows Nick Blake, an Extraordinary, a human being descended from African slaves who escaped to freedom using magic.
“So it’s perfectly normal that she gets a Hellhound for her twelfth birthday; what’s less normal is that she discovers there’s a deadly prophecy surrounding her birth,” reads the synopsis. “Now, Nic must find the missing artifact that will reveal the truth about his past and save his father, who has been arrested for stealing it. All in one day’s work for a young Remarkable.”
Thomas’s debut novel for older adults, The hate you givethrown directly into the New York Times best-seller list since its publication in 2017, where it has remained every year since it was published, according to the publisher. It has sold 250,941 books to date in the UK sold through Nielsen BookScan for £1.5 million, with The hate you gives 2017 paperback its bestseller at 192,745 copies sold. The hate you give received the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards, and Amnesty CILIP Honor for the Carnegie Medal.
The book was adapted into a film, starring Amandla Stenberg and released by 20th Century Fox. The film of Thomas’s second novel, on the climbwill premiere on Paramount+ this fall, directed by Sanaa Lathan and starring Jamila C Gray.
His most recent YA title, concrete rosea prequel to The hate you givedebuted in the New York Times bestseller list and received a Michael L Printz Honor from the American Library Association.
“I am thrilled not only to write a book in a new genre and category, but also to publish it with Walker,” she said. “Over the years, Walker has been the perfect home across the pond for my novels, and I have no doubt the teams will do as much for Nic Blake as they have for Starr, Bri and Maverick. . I can’t wait to introduce Walker readers to the world of Remarkable.”
Grainger added, “Angie’s debut MG fantasy is everything you’d expect from such a masterful and beloved storyteller. It’s fantasy escapism at its finest, with plenty of touch points with other beloved fantasy series that readers will love, but it stands out in a league of its own for its originality, scope, character development, and tension. Angie is one of the best voices of her generation and she is incredibly exciting that she is now bringing this immense talent to a younger age group.”
