'Significant' Bologna pre-empt for Bonnier Zaffre's Supersaurs

Bonnier Zaffre's new dinosaur children's imprint Supersaurs has received a "significant" pre-empt from R Jeunesse, a new children’s imprint at French book publisher Robert Laffont.

The deal was announced this morning (4th April), as the Bologna Children’s Book Fair got underway.

Mark Smith, c.e.o. for Bonnier Zaffre, said: “It's a great way to start the fair having a major publishing partner on board at the beginning of this new innovative children's series. We look forward to talking to many more potential partners over the next few days.”

Glenn Tavennac, publisher for Robert Laffont, whose new children’s imprint R Jeunesse launches this Autumn, added: “Supersaurs already feels like a classic for children, young adults and parents alike even before it has been published. The world building is amazing and we at R Jeunesse are thrilled to be a part of this most exciting publishing project.”

Supersaurs is a new publishing programme of six middle grade books and a range of related print merchandise brought to Bonnier Zaffre by author and artist Jay Jay Burridge. Stories are based on the concept of “what if the dinosaurs hadn’t died out, what if some survived and evolved…and a world now exists where mankind lives side-by-side with today’s descendants: Supersaurs”.

The first book in the series, The Raptors of Paradise, will publish in Spring 2017 in the UK and the series is said to have already received "huge interest" from international publishing houses. An "innovative technology team" is involved in the publishing creative, according to Bonnier Zaffre.