HarperCollins Children’s snaps up Colfer’s ‘stunning’ new festive tale

HarperCollins Children’s Books (HCCB) has acquired Artemis Fowl creator Eoin Colfer’s festive-themed newest about a girl who must save her family—and Father Christmas. 

Fiction publisher Nick Lake acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada to Juniper’s Christmas from Sophie Hicks at the Sophie Hicks Agency. HCCB will publish the middle-grade novel, which is illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat, in November 2023. Meanwhile, a US deal was brokered with Jennifer Besser at Macmillan, while Gallimard has snapped up French rights.

HCCB described Juniper’s Christmas as “a classic adventure filled with heart and humour”. It has been 10 years since Santa Claus has performed his Christmas duties, but young Juniper discovers the mysterious Niko who lives in a local forest surrounded by Christmas trees and reindeer that can fly—surely he is the missing Santa Claus. Then Juniper’s mum goes missing and their beloved park comes under threat, so Juniper enlists Niko’s help. As the countdown to Christmas begins, “Juniper must find her mother, restore the festive spirit...and learn to ride her own personal reindeer".

Lake said that when he learned Colfer was writing a Christmas story “my eyes lit up—but I couldn’t have imagined the moving, hilarious, imaginative and gripping story that he ended up delivering”.

Colfer has shifted nearly £17m through Nielsen BookScan UK since records began, starting with his 1998 début Benny and Omar but breaking out with the Puffin-published Artemis Fowl series, which has gone on to sell more than 25 million units worldwide and has been translated into 40 languages. HCCB has published the Artemis Fowl spin-off series, The Fowl Twins, since 2020.

After a disappointingly received and Covid-hit, Kenneth Branagh-directed Disney adaptation of the first Artemis Fowl, Colfer is taking his next filmed project into his own hands: last autumn the BBC announced he was developing a first original series for the broadcaster.

Prabhat is a Goa-based book designer and artist who has illustrated more than 20 picture books, including Giovanni Alessio’s The Culture of Clothes (Templar), Sonali Shah’s The Best Diwali Ever (Scholastic) and Jonny Marx’s The Egyptians (Little Tiger).

Colfer, who was Ireland’s Laureate for Children’s Literature from 2014–16, said: “Juniper’s Christmas is a story of hope and I think we could all use a little hope in this turbulent world. When I was much younger there was nothing I liked better than to read a Christmas story under the blankets with my trusty bicycle lamp; I really hope that with HarperCollins’ help Juniper’s Christmas becomes that book for many readers.”