Nosy Crow snaps up Usborne's Stowell in four book deal

Nosy Crow is to publish two new series of books by Usborne editor Louie Stowell.

Business development manager and commissioning editor Tom Bonnick acquired world rights in four books in two new series from Polly Nolan at the Greenhouse Literary Agency.

The first series, The Dragon in the Library, will be published in January 2018, and features a library run by wizards, a girl called Kit, a dragon, and an evil property developer. Aimed at younger readers aged seven to nine, the series will have black and white illustrations throughout.

The second series, Otherworld, for ages nine to 12, follows two friends who must travel to the mysterious Otherworld after the baby brother of one of them has been kidnapped by an evil Faerie Queen.

Bonnick said: "Louie is an editor's dream - she is absolutely brimming with ideas, and I'm so thrilled to be launching her fiction career with these series. The Dragon in the Library captures all of her best qualities as a writer: it's funny and exciting, wonderfully child-centred, brilliantly conceived, and with a real social conscience - underneath the great story is a wonderful message: that books are MAGIC and that without libraries the world will end."

Stowell has previously written "dozens of books" in-house, and runs story-writing and comics-making workshops at literary festivals and schools.

Stowell said: "I'm delighted that The Dragon in the Library has found a home with Nosy Crow. I've been a fan of their books for ages, especially their funny fiction. Tom is a wonderful editor, and I feel very lucky."