HarperCollins Children's Books Signs Debut Author for Worldwide Three-Book Deal

NEW YORK, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- HarperCollins Publishers today announced that it has acquired world-English language rights to three books by screenwriter Derek Landy, following a frenzy of interest from publishers around the world. The book, audio and e-formats will be published in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India.

The series will begin with SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT, a comic-fantasy-adventure in which a young girl teams up with the wise-cracking skeleton of a dead magician to defeat an Ancient evil. "Sharply dressed skeleton detectives, feisty young heroines, scary monsters, and super-creeps -- I think my career guidance teacher is spinning in her grave. Or she would be if she were dead," said Landy, a Dublin-based screenwriter who wrote the 2003 thriller Dead Bodies and the 2005 dark comedy Boy Eats Girl.

The deal was negotiated by Gillie Russell, Fiction Publishing Director and Sally Gritten, Managing Director, both of HarperCollins U.K., and Michael Stearns, Editorial Director, HarperCollins U.S., with Landy's agent Michelle Kass of Michelle Kass Associates.

Excitement for the book spread rapidly throughout HarperCollins' U.K. and U.S. offices. U.S. Editorial Director Michael Stearns flew from New York to London and back in a day to meet with Landy and his agent to convey Harper's global enthusiasm for the series.

"We always hope that the next big thing will come across our desks. Many wonderful manuscripts are submitted, but too often they are just not universal enough. Then one comes along that is so fresh, so funny, and so magical that you just know this is it. For me, SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT is that book," said Sally Gritten, Managing Director of HarperCollins U.K.

Susan Katz, President and Publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books in the U.S., added, "More and more, the most successful publishing demands a global vision and international reach which HarperCollins can provide. We are always thrilled when we can team up with our colleagues at HarperCollins UK -- especially for a book as 'drop-dead' wonderful as SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT."

HarperCollins Children's Books is one of the leading publishers of children's books. Respected worldwide for its tradition of publishing quality, award-winning books for young readers, HarperCollins is home to many children's classics-Charlotte's Web, The Chronicles of Narnia, Goodnight Moon, Where the Sidewalk Ends and Where the Wild Things Are; popular series -- A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Princess Diaries. HarperCollins Children's Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, one of the leading English language publishers in the world and a subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) (ASX: NCP) . Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing groups in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia. You can visit HarperCollins on the Internet at http://www.harpercollins.com/.