Frances Lincoln wins eight-publisher auction for Teddy Keen debut

Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, an imprint of Quarto Publishing, has acquired The Lost Book of Adventure, a collection of notebooks and journals that were “found” by debut author and illustrator Teddy Keen.

Purportedly by an unknown adventurer, the book is a children’s guide to discovering the wilderness and contains details of adventures, expedition advice and survival methods, all annotated with drawings.

Publisher Rachel Williams acquired world rights to the book in an eight-way auction from agent Jodie Hodges at United Agents and has already struck four co-edition deals.

In the UK, the book will be published in March 2019, priced at £20, and marks a new direction for the Frances Lincoln list, said Williams. “It’s part of us doing more narrative non-fiction — it’s the sort of book both parents and younger readers can really lose themselves in – together. And at £20 and 192 pages, it’s the biggest book I’ve ever commissioned for the list.”

Keen is a freelance writer, copyeditor and art director and is based in North London.