International Literary Properties acquires estates of Waddell and three more children's authors

International Literary Properties (ILP) has acquired intellectual property for four children’s authors: Martin Waddell, Adèle Geras, Gianna Marino and Sheila Burnford.

Waddell is a Northern Irish children’s author known for his Little Bear series, Owl Babies and Farmer Duck (Walker Books). He also writes under the pen name Catherine Sefton for older children and young adults.

Waddell has written more than 200 books over his career including eight children’s series; over 50 picture books; some 20 chapter books for children; over 20 books for older children under the Sefton pen name; the Otley series of novels for adults that were adapted into a 1968 comedy spy movie starring Tom Courtenay and Romy Schneider; and numerous collections of short stories.

His picture books alone have sold in excess of 18 million copies worldwide according to ILP, and in 1989 Waddell and Barbara Firth won the Kurt Maschler Award for The Park in the Dark (Walker Books).

In 2004, Waddell was awarded the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his “lasting contribution” as a children’s writer.

Waddell said: “I am invigorated by working with ILP. It feels like a new beginning and I am excited about where this will take us together. At 80 I am so full of hope, energy and enterprise.”

Geras is a British author who has written more than 100 books for children, young adults and adults. Her book Troy (Point) was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and highly commended for the Carnegie Medal.

Mary Durkan, head of acquisitions, UK and EMEA, said: “The ILP team is proud to be working with such accomplished authors. Martin Waddell is a legend of children’s literature, known and beloved by readers of all ages. Adèle Geras combines clever, timeless stories for children and young adults with engrossing adult fiction that places love and family at its core. It is a privilege to be working together."

Gianna Marino is an American author and illustrator who has written over a dozen award-winning books, including Meet Me at the Moon (Viking Books for Young Readers), which was chosen for distribution by Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in 2012.

Molly Cusick, ILP’s v.p. of North American acquisitions and publishing, said: “I have long been a fan of Gianna Marino’s poetic and evocative work. I couldn’t be more excited to add this talented New York Times-bestselling author-illustrator’s titles to ILP’s catalogue.”

Sheila Burnford (1918–1984) was a British Canadian author, best remembered for her book The Incredible Journey (Vintage Children’s Classics).The book won both the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award and the ALA Aurianne Award in 1963. That same year, the book became a bestseller after the titular Disney film was released. The film was remade in 1993 as “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey”. Burnford followed up with three titles of non-fiction.

Cusick said: “As someone who read The Incredible Journey as a child and watched its movie adaptation countless times, it’s a special honour to add the works of Sheila Burnford to our catalogue and help carry on her legacy, not only with her best-known title, but by also introducing readers to her other unforgettable gems."