Gill pens YA poetry collection for Macmillan Children's Books

Macmillan Children’s Books has acquired Here Are the Words, a YA and crossover poetry collection from bestselling poet and social media star Nikita Gill.

UK and Commonwealth rights were acquired by editor Sim K Sandhu from Nicola Chang at David Higham Associates. Here Are the Words will be published in paperback on 23rd June 2022. Gill will be illustrating the book herself throughout. It is her first YA collection following her anthology Slam! You’re Gonna Wanna Hear This which Macmillan Children’s Books published in 2020 and was shortlisted for this year’s CLiPPA CLPE Children’s Poetry Award. 

Sandhu said: “I’m absolutely ecstatic to be working with Nikita on Here Are the Words. She is a force of nature and an outstanding talent whose words of comfort, wisdom and safety are transformative. She’s the big sister we all deserve and in this gorgeous collection she’s giving her readers the words they need to understand, accept and validate so many of the experiences we have growing up – first love and heartbreak, finding yourself at odds with your family and friends, the joys of found family, the discovery of body politics and feminism and trying to figure out who you are.

“Here Are the Words is a healing, life-affirming read that packs a punch and we’re delighted to be publishing it with some real gumption and ambition.” 

Gill added: “I’m so delighted to be working with Macmillan Children’s on this YA poetry collection which is full of love and joy and friendship and protest and all the words we wish we had when we were younger. Massive thanks to my agent Niki Chang and editor Sim Sandhu for making this dream book come to life!”

Here are the Words will be backed by a strong publicity and marketing campaign which will include distribution of early proof copies to media, “industry gatekeepers” and bloggers, poetry events at key literary festivals and a social marketing campaign targeting her key audience and fans.

Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, m.d. of Macmillan Children’s Books, commented: “How lucky are we at Macmillan to publish the powerhouse that is Nikita Gill? Her brilliant, compelling and forceful voice reaches so many young people today; she connects with their feelings and offers tangible support, which is exactly what is needed in these difficult times. There is no better time to publish Here are the Words and we will do our utmost to reach both her fans and new readers with this fantastic poetry collection.”