Pushkin wins first children’s book from Jonathan Freedland

Pushkin Children’s has won the rights to King Winter’s Birthday, the first children’s book from journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Freedland, illustrated by Emily Sutton. 

King Winter’s Birthday will be published as a jacketed hardback on 21st November. Pushkin holds world rights.

King Winter’s Birthday was inspired by an unpublished children’s story, König Winters Geburtstag: ein Märchen (King Winter’s Birthday: A Fairy Tale), written by German author Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz while he was interned on the Isle of Man during the Second World War. Boschwitz’s recently rediscovered novel The Passenger (Pushkin Press) was a Sunday Times bestseller in both hardback and paperback and a Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month. Boschwitz was deported from the Isle of Man to Australia and died attempting to return to Europe in 1942, when the ship he was on was sunk by a German U-boat.

The synopsis for Freedland’s own book reads: “King Winter wants his birthday to be special and asks his brothers and sisters to be there: King Summer, Queen Spring and Queen Autumn. But the leaves and trees whisper a warning and as the four play magical games, something strange begins to happen outside.”

Adam Freudenheim, publisher and managing director for Pushkin Press, said: “I’m delighted that I was able to persuade Jonathan to write his first children’s book, and I love how he took inspiration from Boschwitz’s original story and created something fresh and wholly original. To have this lovely story complemented by Emily’s gorgeous illustrations is a coup, and I like to think Ulrich Boschwitz would be pleased to see the new life Jonathan and Emily have both breathed into his work.”

Freedland is a columnist for the Guardian, the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s contemporary history series, "The Long View "and co-host of the podcast "Unholy". He is the author of twelve books, the latest being The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World (John Murray). He has written nine thrillers, mostly as Sam Bourne, including The Righteous Men (HarperCollins), a Sunday Times number one bestseller.

Speaking about King Winter’s Birthday, Freedland said: “Ever since I read stories as a child, and again when I read to my own children, I hoped one day to write for that most discerning of audiences: the young. Boschwitz’s tale sparked something in me and it’s been an honour to pick up the torch he lit, passing it on to a new generation – exploring themes that I hope will resonate with them especially.”

Sutton is an artist and illustrator based in York, England. She has worked on numerous picture books, including The Christmas Eve Tree by Delia Huddy, as well as Tiny, Lots, Many and Grow by author Nicola Davies, all published by Walker Books. Her illustrated edition of Shakespeare’s First Folio is published in April 2024, also by Walker.

She commented: “It’s been a huge honour to illustrate King Winter’s Birthday. Jonathan’s timeless, fairytale-like text is so full of poetic imagery that on the first read through my head was immediately filled with pictures. The rich and layered history of how the tale came to be added extra resonance to the project and I’m so happy that Ulrich’s original manuscript is now being brought to a wider audience – I hope we have done him proud.”