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Bawden children’s books to become Virago classics
Virago will this year publish three Nina Bawden children’s books as part of its Virago Modern Classics (VMC) range.
The releases mark the first time that Bawden’s children’s novels have appeared on the VMC list, which has published her adult novels since the 1980s. Keeping Henry will be published on 1st June and Carrie's War and The Peppermint Pig will follow in November. All will be priced at £6.99.
Donna Coonan, editorial director of the Virago Modern Classics list, acquired UK and Commonwealth (including Canada) rights from Gordon Wise at Curtis Brown, who represents Bawden's family.
Coonan said: “Nina Bawden is a long-standing and much-loved VMC author, and I am just thrilled that we now have the opportunity to publish her children's novels, too. As a child, Carrie's War and The Peppermint Pig were two of my most treasured books, and I've been charmed, more recently, to make the acquaintance of mischievous Henry. Bawden's stories are written with such honesty, empathy and warmth that they stay with you for a lifetime.”
Wise said it was a “joy” to bring Bawden’s adult and children’s books under one roof. He added: “Carrie is a pillar of children's literature and Keeping Henry hasn't been in print for the best part of a decade.”
Bawden, who died in 2012, wrote many children’s books over her career and won the Guardian Children’s Book Prize for The Peppermint Pig in 1976. In 2004 she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English Pen for services to literature, and won the Lost Man Booker Prize in 2010 for her 1970 novel The Birds on the Trees.
