HarperCollins UK has announced it has acquired award-winning Edinburgh children’s publisher Barrington Stoke.
The company, founded by Patience Thomson and Lucy Juckes in 1997, publishes dyslexia-friendly fiction and non-fiction by a stable of highly acclaimed authors and illustrators.
Barrington Stoke will continue to be based in the Scottish capital, maintaining its publishing autonomy as a distinct, editorially independent imprint under the historic Collins brand led by Managing Director Alex Beecroft, trade body Publishing Scotland reports.
READ MORE: Family to sell hotel on Scottish street made famous by TV series
Barrington Stoke’s catalogue spans pre-school to YA, publishing around 40 frontlist titles a year, with a specialised editing process and its own specially designed font.
We are thrilled to share the news that Barrington Stoke has been acquired by @HarperCollinsUK, to run as editorially independent imprint under the historic Collins brand. We can’t wait to meet our new colleagues and continue our mission of enabling every child to become a reader. https://t.co/ePHUw2lXhx
— Barrington Stoke (@BarringtonStoke) April 4, 2023
Its list includes work from many of the country’s most beloved writers, including seven Children’s Laureates. In 2020 Anthony McGowan’s Lark won the Carnegie Medal, and this year Barrington Stoke is represented on the shortlist by Patrice Lawrence’s Needle.
Lucy Juckes, co-founder Barrington Stoke said: "The impact of the pandemic and our growth over the last three years has shown Barrington Stoke is needed more than ever. Having met Charlie, Alex and the team I feel HarperCollins is the best possible new home for the Barrington Stoke team and our authors and books as we move forward on the next stage of our journey, helping even more children develop a love of reading with all the benefits this brings."
Charlie Redmayne, CEO HarperCollins UK said: "Barrington Stoke is a pioneering business with a unique vision, which under the leadership of co-founder Lucy Juckes has created truly exceptional, accessible publishing. We are delighted that the team and Barrington Stoke’s fabulous books, authors and illustrators will be joining the wider HarperCollins family and adding to our presence and rich history in Scotland.
“At HarperCollins we share Barrington Stoke’s aims of breaking down barriers and helping every child to experience the joy of reading. I know countless young readers and their families have benefitted from Barrington Stoke’s books, and as someone with dyslexia myself I am honoured to play a part in the future of the business. I look forward to working with the team, and seeing the business grow and benefit from the opportunities for collaboration with the Collins, HCCB and Farshore divisions.’”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here