Funke reunites with Chicken House on Dragon Rider sequels

Chicken House is "joyous" to be reuniting with fantasy author Cornelia Funke on two titles, following a split in 2015 over an editorial disagreement.

The publisher will bring out two sequels to the German writer and illustrator's bestselling novel Dragon Rider, a title which it originally published in 2004. Dragon Rider: The Griffin’s Feather will be published in July with cover art by Laura Ellen Anderson. A brand-new edition of Dragon Rider will come out  simultaneously, with a third story in the series to follow.

Chicken House also will publish the titles in the US with Scholastic [Chicken House's owner] in 2018.

Anthea Bell will translate in a deal done through Jenny Savill at Andrew Nurnberg Associates and Oliver Latsch. Bell originally translated versions of the novel for Chicken House and Scholastic which were published in the UK and US respectively.

Funke stopped Chicken House and her US publisher Little, Brown from publishing the third book in the her YA Mirrorworld series, Reckless, after what was described as an editorial disagreement about the structure of the novel. Funke broke with Chicken House and signed with Pushkin Press to publish the Reckless series in the UK. Barry Cunningham, Chicken House’s publisher, told The Bookseller at the time that the company "had some editorial thoughts about the direction of the last book that she didn’t agree with".

However now Cunningham has said that he is "delighted" to be working with Funke again. He told The Bookseller: "We were joyous [to be publishing her again]. We started the 'Cornelia journey' with her and Anthea was her first translator. Cornelia had talked about possibly coming back to the world of Dragon Rider, she'd ever gone on to Reckless but I think she wanted to return to her middle grade books. We delighted to be publishing her in the UK and in with Scholastic in the US and will be 2018.

"We always loved her writing and longed for her to return to the middle grade world. She is a fantastic writer with a firm idea but was very collaborative when she came back. She was also very happy to work with Anthea again. We could preserve the translator's voice - translators are often the unsung heroes - so it was lovely to reunite. Cornelia set about publishing on her own [Funke has also published through her own publishing company Breathing Books, launched in partnership with US multimedia storytelling company Mirada Studios] and has published with Pushkin but I think she's always valued our firm dedication and we've reached a happy union for her core age range and we're happy to bring Dragon Rider back again for more adventures."

Funke said: “My characters welcomed me with open arms and hearts. They kept no secrets, but they have changed as well. Which made it even more adventurous to follow them once again. Like me they were worried about the state of the world, the plundering of nature, the disrespect for fellow creatures, and like me had come to the conclusion that worrying doesn’t really help anyone and that something had to be done.”

Dragon Rider: The Griffin’s Feather reunites Firedrake the silver dragon with his best friends Ben, Guinevere, Sorrel and Twigleg as part of the bestselling middle-grade fantasy series. It will feature

Cunningham described the news as a "double-treat" for readers. He said: “A mission to save the eggs of the last winged horse – who could resist? And to be back in the wonderful hands of one of the greatest children’s storytellers in the world with a cast of beloved old friends and soon-to-be-favourite new characters is a double treat for readers. Chicken House and Cornelia Funke started our international journey hand in hand, so it’s great to be back together again.”

Dragon Rider has sold over one million copies worldwide for Chicken House, according to the publisher.