HCG to publish monster fact files with Banville and Winter

Hachette Children’s Group has acquired a non-fiction collection of 100 "weird and wonderful" creatures by author Sarah Banville and illustrator Quinton Winter who worked on Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different. 

World rights in Monsters: 100 Weird Creatures from Around The World were acquired by Debbie Foy, publishing director at Wren & Rook,  in a deal made with Katie Fulford at the Bell Lomax Moreton Agency.

Monsters will be published in September 2021 on the Wren & Rook imprint. Inside its pages are a "miscellany of true tales", documenting "the weird, wonderful, infamous and terrifying", from Sasquatch (Big Foot) and the Abominable Snowman, to the Loch Ness Monster, the Banshee and Werewolf. In this way 100 monsters are explored through their social and cultural contexts, with an in-depth look at the folklore, myth, tradition, origin and human sightings behind them.

"Popular kids’ fiction tells us that children have a deep fascination for monsters," said Foy, "so this spine-tingling, hair raising companion will be a vital – and visually stunning – escape into wonder and imagination in these uncertain times."

Banville said: "The book is an epic expedition not only across the world, but also within the storytelling of these gorgeous monsters. The book is like 100 short films, 100 biographies, 100 fact files but, more importantly, 100 reasons to read a good book. Monsters lived with us during lockdown and were surprisingly nice house guests. We are thrilled to be working with the exceptional team at Wren & Rook to let these monsters loose on the world."

Winter commented: "I’ve drawn inspirational people before but none as hairy and bad tempered as these. Drawing monsters was an adventure into the mysterious and unfathomable. It was also just a wonderful excuse to draw monsters day and night whilst locked down! Wren & Rook's expertise and vision has enabled us to create this wonderful large book."

Monsters is Banville’s debut non-fiction book and Winter, the illustrator of the bestselling Stories for Boys... series (Quercus), teaches illustration and narrative art workshops to art students and the general public.