EDITED BY HUW LEWIS JONES

It’s one of the first things we discover as children, reading and drawing: Maps have a unique power to transport us to distant lands on wondrous travels. Put a map at the start of a book, and we know an adventure is going to follow. Displaying this truth with beautiful full-color illustrations, The Writer’s Map is an atlas of the journeys that our most creative storytellers have made throughout their lives. This magnificent collection encompasses not only the maps that appear in their books but also the many maps that have inspired them, the sketches that they used while writing, and others that simply sparked their curiosity.

Philip Pullman recounts the experience of drawing a map as he set out on one of his early novels, The Tin Princess. Miraphora Mina recalls the creative challenge of drawing up ”The Marauder’s Map” for the Harry Potter films. David Mitchell leads us to the Mappa Mundi by way of Cloud Atlas and his own sketch maps. Robert Macfarlane reflects on the cartophilia that has informed his evocative nature writing, which was set off by Robert Louis Stevenson and his map of Treasure Island. Joanne Harris tells of her fascination with Norse maps of the universe. Reif Larsen writes about our dependence on GPS and the impulse to map our experience. Daniel Reeve describes drawing maps and charts for The Hobbit film trilogy. Piers Torday discusses the challenge of drawing a fictional map.

This exquisitely crafted and illustrated atlas explores these and so many more of the maps writers create and are inspired by—some real, some imagined—in both words and images.

Amid a cornucopia of 167 full-color images, we find here maps of the world as envisaged in medieval times, as well as maps of adventure, sci-fi and fantasy, nursery rhymes, literary classics, and collectible comics. An enchanting visual and verbal journey, The Writer’s Map will be irresistible for lovers of maps, literature, and memories—and anyone prone to flights of the imagination.

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Published: 04/10/2018
ISBN: 978-0500519509

‘If you can imagine it, it exists … somewhere.’

The new spellbinding fantasy adventure from the award-winning author of The Last Wild trilogy.

1945. They have survived the Blitz, but when Simon, Patricia, Evelyn and Larry step through a mysterious library door, it is the beginning of their most dangerous adventure yet. They discover the magical world of Folio, where an enchanted kingdom of fairy knights, bears and tree gods is under threat from a sinister robot army.

The many stories of the Library are locked in eternal war, and the children’s only hope is to find their creator – a magician who has been lost for centuries.

What they discover will change not just their own lives, but the fate of the world, for ever …

Publisher: Quercus Children's Books
Published: 06/09/2018
ISBN: 978-1786540515

Eleven-year-old Mouse is travelling to see his grandparents on Christmas Eve with his mother and two sisters. But it’s snowing, and visibility is bad, and the car goes off the road, and crashes.

Mouse is thrown from the car.

When he wakes, he’s not in his world any more. He meets a sheep named Bar, who can only say Baaa, and a sarcastic horse named Nonky, who is a surprising mix of his beloved toy horse and his older sister.

So begins a quest to find a castle in a world of wonder – a world of monsters, minstrels, dangerous knights and mysterious wizards; a world of terrifying danger but also more excitement than Mouse has ever known.

But why are they looking for a castle? As the cold grows, we realise it might just have something to do with the family he’s left behind; and that Mouse’s quest is more important than ever.

This is a novel about the power of stories to change the way we view the world – and it’s about the power of a child to change their own world. Emotionally arresting but ultimately uplifting, this is a remarkable novel for our times.

Publisher: Quercus Children's Books
Published: 05/10/2017
ISBN: 9781848668621

Curated by Abi Elphinstone

Delighted to have a story, “The Wishing Book”, in this beautiful and classic anthology of frosty, magical short stories from acclaimed children’s writers such as Michelle Magorian, Berlie Doherty, Lauren St John and Katherine Woodfine, edited by author Abi Elphinstone. This gorgeous collection also includes stories featuring snow queens, frost fairs, snow dragons and pied pipers . .

An unmissable, enchanting treat of a collection that will be enjoyed for years to come, by readers of all ages.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's UK
Published: 06/10/2016
ISBN: 978-1471159824

As the sun rises behind Mount Yuhan, a leopard, a hornbill, a civet and a tortoise ascend a ladder into the clouds. A fly picks a fight with an elephant. A monkey pits his wits against a crocodile. And that’s all before breakfast.

Armoured pangolins, blue-bottomed drill monkeys, red-legged francolins and red river hogs are just some of the fascinating creatures you will discover in this collection of folk tales from the Korup region of Cameroon, tales that are just as extraordinary as the animals that inspired them…

Publisher: Lantana Publishing
Published: 30/11/2016
ISBN: 978-1911373063

(WITH PAUL TORDAY)

From the bestselling author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Paul Torday, comes a witty satire. Completed by Piers Torday.

Charles Fryerne has made a career out of telling the truth. Or so he thinks. Employed first as a writer, then as a communications expert, he believes that the public is tired of political spin. Then he bumps into a former university friend, Andrew Langford.  Always ambitious, Langford is now on course to be leader of the Conservative party and has set his sights on the top job – becoming the country’s next prime minister – and he wants Charles to join his team.

But everything changes one dark night on a country lane, when Andrew’s car hits an owl. And not just any owl. Barn owls are protected species and killing one is a criminal offence. In addition, Andrew is on a select committee concerned with the Wildlife Crimes Act.  If they come clean, they risk everything they have worked towards; and if they don’t….

Publisher: W&N Fiction
Published: 14/04/2016
ISBN: 978-0297867500

THE LAST WILD TRILOGY: BOOK 3

Kester Jaynes has led the last wild creatures in the land to safety, and saved his beloved city of Premium from total destruction.

Almost….

Because the secret to rebuild the world is still out there, guarded by a mouse who is nowhere to be found. And when the last blue whale on the planet delivers a terrible warning about the future, Kester realizes time is running out fast.

So he and his loyal friends Polly and Aida make a brave decision: to travel far away to a wild beyond their own, in the desperate hope of preventing the end of all things. But as they journey further from home, and discover the truth of the whale’s story, they realise that their real adventure has only just begun…

The world gave Kester Jaynes his life back.

Can Kester Jaynes save the world?

Publisher: Quercus Children's Books
Published: 02/04/2015
ISBN: 9781784291815

The Last Wild Trilogy: Book 2

Twelve-year-old Kester Jaynes thought he had rescued the last wild animals in the land. He thought his adventures was over.

He was wrong.

Below the sparkling city of Premium, deep underground, Kester finds more survivors: a menacing white dog, a cohort of foxes, an interfering starling, and the world’s most miserable rat. A dark wild hiding from the deadly virus that destroyed their friends; a dark wild with a dark plan to rise up against their human enemies…Together with his loyal friend Polly and a brave gang of child outlaws, Kester must find a way to stop them, before it’s too late.

Kester Jaynes saved the animals. Can he save the humans too?

Publisher: Quercus Children's Books
Published: 04/09/2014
ISBN: 978-1848663787

In a world where animals no longer exist, twelve-year old Kester Jaynes sometimes feels like he hardly exists either.  Locked away in a home for troubled children, he’s told there’s something wrong with him.  So when he meets a flock of talking pigeons and a bossy cockroach, Kester thinks he’s finally gone a bit mad.  But the animals have something to say…

The pigeons fly Kester to a wild place where the last creatures in the land have survived.  A wise stag needs Kester’s help, and together they must embark on a great journey, joined along the way by an over-enthusiastic wolf-cub, a spoilt show-cat, a dancing harvest mouse and a girl named Polly.

The animals saved Kester Jaynes.  But can Kester save the animals?

Publisher: Quercus Children's Books
Published: 01/08/2013
ISBN: 978-1780878300