HarperCollins signs 11-book deal with Biddulph

HarperCollins Children’s Books has completed a new multi-book deal with the author and illustrator Rob Biddulph, taking their longstanding colour publishing partnership into 2027. 

Alice Blacker, publishing director for picture books, acquired world rights for 11 titles from Jodie Hodges at United Agents. The deal includes three picture books, four Draw with Rob activity books and four titles in a new, younger series of the Draw with Rob Activity books, My First Draw with Rob. The series will launch in July with My First Draw with Rob Dinosaurs. The first picture book in the deal will publish in September 2024. 

The My First Draw activity books will be 32 pages long with perforated pages so that artwork can be easily taken out and displayed. 

Blacker said: “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be continuing our longstanding creative partnership with Rob with a wealth of new picture books and activity books. The nation took Rob to their collective hearts in the lockdown and extending the Draw with Rob books for younger children feels like the perfect next step for this phenomenal activity brand.”

Biddulph added: “I’m so happy and proud to have signed this deal to produce another 11 books with my team at HarperCollins. It will see our partnership extend well past the decade marker and I can honestly say that I’ve loved every second. To be able to make so many more story and activity books for my little readers and artists is a privilege and the opportunity to engage with a younger audience is one that I’m very excited about. 

“I also want to say a huge thank you to Jodie, my superhuman  agent, who is responsible for so much of the good news that comes my way.”