Kevin Powers moves to Atlantic with two-book deal

Kevin Powers has moved to Atlantic with a two-book deal.

Managing director Drummond Moir acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Children of the Wild from Peter Straus of Rogers, Coleridge and White.

US rights were sold to Millicent Bennett at HarperCollins, with film rights optioned by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. Atlantic Books will publish on 6th August 2026.

Set in the lush mountains of Virginia and the battlefields of First World War France, the story follows “three young lives in the crucible of conflict: restless and ambitious Roy, determined to leave his mark on the world; Samantha, the minister’s daughter, who knows the town expects her and Roy to marry but hungers for more; and Ennis – a mysterious wild boy tending to a lost herd of cattle up the mountain – whose arrival will change everything”.

Powers was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia and has been a finalist for the National Book Award and a recipient of the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Guardian First Book Award, the Prix Littéraire Le Monde du Meilleur Roman Etranger and the Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine, among other prizes.

Moir said: “My publishing life changed 15 years ago on a Thursday afternoon when I read a masterful debut novel titled The Yellow Birds. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be reunited with Kevin for his superb, moving new work, and to match such a cherished author to such a devoted and dynamic publishing team.”