Macmillan Children’s Books signs multi-book deal with McQuiston

Macmillan Children’s Book has secured Casey McQuiston’s YA debut, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, alongside her LGBTQI+ adult crossover novels Red, White & Royal Blue and One Last Stop.  

Publisher Samantha Smith and associate publisher Sarah Hughes, as part of a joint acquisition with St Martin’s Press, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from agent Sara Megibow at KT Literary. I Kissed Shara Wheeler will be published in hardback on 12th May 2022. Red, White & Royal Blue and One Last Stop will publish in paperback in April 2022.   

Of McQuiston’s YA debut, the publisher wrote: “This funny and frank romantic comedy is about breaking the rules and finding love in unexpected places. A month before graduating from Willowgrove Christian Academy, the principal’s perfect daughter, Prom Queen Shara Wheeler, kisses Chloe Green and vanishes, leaving only a trail of clues. On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she is not the only one that Shara kissed, and she starts to suspect that there may be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—there is more to Shara too.”  

Flim rights for Red, White & Royal Blue have been sold to Amazon Studios, with Tony Award-winning Matthew López set to adapt the script and make his directorial debut. The novel has become a TikTok phenomenon with more than 90 million views and shares since its publication in 2019, the publisher said.  

Hughes said: “I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a gift of a novel. It’s written with such authenticity about a range of characters who are working out who they are and what they want their story to be. It’s bold, sharp, witty, compassionate and fierce. We can’t wait to introduce Shara and her friends to Casey’s many fans.” 

Managing director Belinda Ioni Rasmussen commented: “We are very excited about working with Casey and publishing her brilliant novels in the UK. Many of our biggest YA achievements have been in collaboration with our US colleagues and we know that these books will have significant impact in the market in the same way and together we can build a strong global brand across our Macmillan companies.”  

McQuiston added: “It’s amazing to finally see these books off to their new home in the UK. Macmillan US has done such an incredible job connecting these books with readers over here in the States, so it just feels right to have our Macmillan UK family on board.”