YA imprint Atom rebrands

Little, Brown is relaunching its teen publishing imprint, Atom, with a new look and focus.

The rebrand, complete with a logo and website redesign "to reflect the evolution of the imprint", reflects that Atom has grown into a list aimed squarely at YA readers.

When it was originally established 10 years ago, it was publishing books aimed at both at teens and at younger readers.

Atom is best known for its fantasy, including Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, but the new list will not have a specific genre focus. 

The original logo, designed when Atom was conceived as a sister to the Orbit SFF imprint, was visually a "mini-Orbit" and mirrored the space connotations of its genre publishing. The new logo by contrast is described as "bold" and "sharp" with "a greater sense of movement", to represent "the dynamic shift in publishing" from Atom. 

Commissioning will be strive to be "fresh" and take a more inclusive approach, seeking out "brave contemporary new voices" to tell stories for "absolutely everyone".

Publisher James Gurbutt said: "Last year marked the tenth anniversary of Twilight. A perfect time to celebrate how far Atom has come since then, and signal how we hope to develop in the future, with a newly designed logo. Our commissioning now has a clear focus on fresh, engaged, brave contemporary new voices, writing for young adults but telling stories for absolutely everyone, without exception."

Editor Sarah Castleton said: "Our new website – a Tumblr – is inherently more interactive because we want Atom to be at the heart of a community of YA readers, of all ages. We don’t just want to talk about ourselves; we want to make connections, explore conversations, and keep moving, developing, adapting in response. I am proud as punch of this year’s Atom list, which is really the result of our first year of commissioning for what we’ve been calling 'Atom 2.0'."

The first year of Atom's "2.0" publishing includes new novels from UKYA authors Abbie Rushton, Keren David, Alex Wheatle and C J Daugherty, as well as debuts such as When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid, praised by Juno Dawson as "a total breath of fresh air" (publishing in hardback on 11th February, priced 12.99) and "the darkly provocative crossover" My Favourite Manson Girl by Alison Umminger (out in hardback on 7th June, priced £13.99).