Stevens and Torday reimagine Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland

Children’s authors including Robin Stevens, Piers Torday and Swapna Haddow have written stories based on Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland for a new title to be published by Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB) in June.

Peter Bunzl, Pamela Butchart, Maz Evans, Patrice Lawrence, Chris Smith, Lauren St John, Lisa Thompson and Amy Wilson have also contributed to Return to Wonderland, and each story re-imagines Wonderland from the viewpoint of one of Carroll’s original characters.

The book was commissioned by Lucy Pearse, senior editor for 6+ at MCB, who said: “When we first had the idea for this collection, we were ambitious with the list of authors we felt would best bring Carroll’s world to life in a new way. Everyone’s enthusiasm to embark on making each famous character their own has led to this wonderful collection. We all believe this to be a classic of the future – I am so proud of it and of them.”

Return to Wonderland will be illustrated by Laura Barrett and published in hardback on 27th June, ahead of Alice Day on 4th July, and will be supported by a “strong” marketing and PR campaign.

Alexander Macmillan, co-founder of Macmillan Publishers, met Lewis Carroll in 1863 and published Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865. He published nine different editions in the subsequent 35 years until his death, including French, German and Italian translations.

‘The Macmillan Alice’, Macmillan’s anniversary edition of the story, launched in 2015 to celebrate 150 years since the first publication, and sales have reached half a million copies worldwide, according to MCB.