Terry Pratchett colouring book coming in August

A Terry Pratchett adult colouring book is set to be released by Gollancz this August, created by Paul Kidby, with the rights negotiated by Rob Wilkins.

The late author’s “artist of choice” Kidby will create the line drawings for the title, to be called Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Colouring Book.

Gollancz’s digital publisher, Darren Nash, bought world rights to book from Wilkins at Narrativia, which owns and controls the exclusive multimedia and merchandising rights for all of Pratchett’s works, including his Discworld characters and creations.  

Gollancz published the Discworld novels in hardback from Equal Rites (1987) to Jingo (1997) – and recently republished the first 21 Discworld novels as cloth-bound hardbacks in its Discworld Collectors Library. The publisher continues to publish a series of bestselling Discworld diaries and calendars.

Nash said: “This is the perfect mix of fad and phenomenon: adult colouring books and the UK's bestselling fantasy series. And the fact that it’s come from Paul and Rob is a guarantee that Sir Terry’s creations will be treated with the respect they deserve.”

Wilkins added: “Paul Kidby is Terry Pratchett’s artist of choice. Paul – in a seemingly effortless and certainly modest way – breathed life into Terry’s characters for more than two decades.  Terry often commented that Paul must have the ability to step right into Discworld, because the accuracy with which he depicts his creations often surpassed his own imagination.”

Kidby said it had been a “great pleasure” to select some of his favourite artworks and recreate them as line drawings ready for colouring. “Now it’s over to you to embark upon the Discworld colouring-in extravaganza,” he said. “The future is bright; it’s not orange, it's Octarine!”

Kidby provided the illustrations for The Last Hero, which sold over 300,000 copies, and has designed the covers for the Discworld novels since 2002. He is also the author of the definitive portfolio volume The Art Of Discworld.

The title will feature iconic Discworld personalities such as Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes, Rincewind, Tiffany Aching and, of course, DEATH.

It will be released on the 11th August priced at £9.99.