Bates writes 'feminist retelling of Lord of the Flies'

Laura Bates, founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, has written a "modern feminist retelling of Lord of the Flies", which will explore issues surrounding sexual assault and gender stereotyping, for Simon & Schuster UK Children’s with the US rights going for a six-figure sum.

Lucy Rogers, senior commissioning editor, acquired world rights for the two new YA novels from Abigail Bergstrom at Gleam Titles. The first untitled novel is due to publish in January 2021 in paperback original format and is described by the publisher as a "modern feminist retelling of Lord of the Flies" which will explore issues surrounding sexual assault and gender stereotyping. The second book in the contract is slated for 2022. Bates is also working on her next non-fiction which S&S will publish next spring. US rights for the YA novels have just sold for a six-figure sum.

Bates’ debut YA novel, The Burning, was published by S&S UK Children's in February and she has just finished an accompanying nationwide schools tour.

"Working on The Burning with the brilliant team at Simon and Schuster has been a dream come true and hearing the response from young people and parents has been hugely rewarding,” Bates said. "So I am thrilled to be working with S&S on these new books and deeply grateful to the readers who have been so supportive of my work."

Rogers said: "The Burning has demonstrated Laura’s immense talents as a fiction writer and ability to explore hard-hitting, hugely important issues in a compelling framework. We are incredibly excited to have the opportunity to work with Laura on further fiction titles which, like The Burning, will prove essential reading for teenagers today."

Bergstorm said: "After publishing Laura at the beginning of her career, I’m thrilled to be working with her and the Simon & Schuster team again to help build Laura into a brand fiction writer."