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Orion has signed a four-book deal with Phil Earle, author of the Carnegie Medal-nominated Being Billy (Penguin).
The first title, Demolition Dad, is aimed at middle-grade readers and will be published in summer 2015. Three as yet unnamed novels will follow.
Fiona Kenny, m.d. and publisher of Orion Children’s Books, acquired the world rights from Jodie Hodges at United Agents.
“We couldn’t be more delighted to welcome the hugely talented Phil Earle… to our list,” she said. “All of us admire his clever, intuitive writing, but stand by for his fabulous first middle-grade stories - Demolition Dad is a lot of fun and shows off Phil’s skills at their sparkling best.”
Earle said Orion had shown “overwhelming” faith in his first middle-grade stories.
“I want the stories to be warm, funny and touching, and can’t wait to play with subjects that obsessed me as a kid,” he said. “My dad always said I was wasting my time endlessly watching Hulk Hogan wrestle, so I intend to prove him wrong with Demolition Dad, the story of a boy whose father happens to be a rather crummy British wrestler.”
Earle’s most recent novel, Heroic (Penguin), was last week longlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2014. He is also sales and marketing director at David Fickling Books.