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Soup by Oliver Gerlach and Kelsi Jo Silva is a new YA graphic novel that tells the story of Soup, a cook in a fantasy world who discovers her boss’s villainous grip over her beloved town and decides it’s time to dismantle his power through a magical cooking competition. Oliver Gerlach is an Edinburgh-based writer of videogames and comics, such as Young Men In Love and Red Sonja, and Kelsi Jo Silva is an artist and comic illustrator currently based out of Denver, Colorado.
Charlie Ilgunas at Little Bee Books/Yellow Jacket has acquired North American rights to Soup, to be published for the autumn of 2024.
Yellow Jacket is an imprint of Little Bee Books, is a middle-grade publisher of series and standalone titles for ages 8 through 14, covering an array of genres including humor, historical fiction, magical realism, coming-of-age stories, graphic novels, and much more. Little Bee Books, was the U.S. children’s publishing unit of the Bonnier Swedish publishing conglomerate, bought out by their CEO Shimul Tolia and CFO Thomas Morgan. Distribution will be by Simon & Schuster.
Oliver Gerlach and Kelsi Jo Silva’s agent Stephanie Winter at P.S. Literary negotiated the deal. Stephanie Winter is an associate agent at PSLA who first joined the agency as an intern before becoming the agency’s relations assistant. Stephanie holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto in English Literature and an M.A. in English: Issues in Modern Culture from University College London. She says that she is looking for diverse, inclusive voices in a variety of spaces and particularly appreciates strong characters who bend stereotypes, genders, and more.
The expansion of children’s graphic novels is fuelling all manner of publishers extending into the comics medium. Right now it seems like an infinite market that is being tapped into, and creating longstanding comic book readers for decades to come. It is not for nothing that kids graphic novels in bookstores are being referred to as the newsstand of the twenty-first century, and the future readers of the medium are being formed and created right here, right now.
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