Affirm Press will begin distribution of independent UK publishing house Firefly Press in 2025, it was announced at the Frankfurt Bookfair today.
Affirm Press’ agency manager, Grace Breen, said she’s thrilled that such a high-quality list of titles will now be available to our readers.
‘Firefly has an outstanding reputation in the UK for producing the type of titles that ignite a book-devouring spirit in younger readers. We all know that nothing beats the first time you lose yourself in a good book and Firefly’s 2025 list is a treasure trove of unforgettable storytelling that Australian kids and teens will adore,’ said Grace.
The list will launch in February with Australian author Janine Beacham’s dark and creepy novel for middle-readers, The Doll Twin, along with the multi-award-winning and bestselling YA novel, The Blue Book of Nebo. The full 2025 Firefly publishing list is expected to have around 25–30 new release and backlist titles that will span junior fiction through to YA.
‘We so are delighted to be working with Affirm Press in Australia and New Zealand. They are an outstanding publishing house which loves great books and stories and as such, holds values close to our own hearts. We’re particularly pleased that the first books to reach Australian readers will be the Yoto Carnegie award-winning Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros, as well as the amazingly haunting and wonderfulDoll Twin by Australia’s own Janine Beacham. We look forward to these and more Firefly titles reaching readers through Affirm and hope that books such as Michael the Amazing Mind-Reading Sausage Dog and Starspill, to name but two, will become firm favourites,’ said Penny Thomas, Firefly Press publisher.
More About Firefly Press
Firefly Press is an independent children’s and YA book publisher based in Wales, UK, that publishes quality fiction for 7 to 19-year-olds. Set up by colleagues Penny and Janet Thomas back in 2013, Firefly won the Branford Boase Award for the Best First Children’s Novel three years later with Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot by Horatio Clare. Since then, their adventurous and fun fiction has won many award-listings. They also have been crowned Wales Small Press of the Year, four times in the last five years, at the Nibbies British Book Award.
Last year, their YA translation The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros won the prestigious Yoto Carnegie Medal. Additionally, Firefly’s epic environmental thriller Skrimsli by Nicola Davies was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for nature writing and won the Wales Book of the Year.
Penny Thomas, publisher at children’s and YA publisher Firefly Press, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in The Cyber Ciphers of Eartha Quicksmith by Loris Owen from Anne Clark of Anne Clark Literary Agency.
Best friends Kip, Albert, Leela, and Timmi uncover a new series of ingeniously hidden riddles from Renaissance luminary Eartha Quicksmith, propelling them on a perilous quest to find the missing eyepiece of the Futurescope. Aided by big-hearted android Incognita, they set sail in Eartha’s extraordinary vessel, The Salamander, and journey through an ocean of transparent metal beneath the Earth’s crust. Captured by the tyrannical Nexus organisation, they must use all their skills to escape the ice floes of the North, with the help of mysterious new allies. As the Grittleshank Cooperative’s smoulderstone mine threatens global catastrophe, Kip faces an impossible choice: stop them or save his captive mother.
“Sideways thinking is very close to my heart, as something my dad taught me.” said Owen. “I’m thrilled that this third story in the Quicksmiths series will be told, and hope that its riddles, twists, lifelore and indestructible friendships give readers the elements they need to change their world.”
Thomas said, “Loris’ incredible powers of invention are second to none! She champions science, invention, friendship and teamwork in this remarkable trilogy which makes for a fascinating, fun and exhilarating read!’
The novel is slated for publication in spring 2025.
Penny Thomas, Publisher at award-winning children’s and YA publisher Firefly Press, has acquired world rights in MG novel The Haunted Life of Delores Mackenzie, the much-anticipated sequel to 2023’sThe Dark and Dangerous Gifts of Delores Mackenzie,from Edinburgh-based author Yvonne Banham.
The title publishes this autumn with another stunning cover from illustrator Nathan Collins.
Paranormal students Delores and Prudence are being hounded by inquisitors after they broke the rules and helped rescue a fellow student from death at the hands of an evil spirit. Cruel inquisitor Magoria Jepp is searching for secrets at their home in Edinburgh’s Tolbooth Bookstore. But does she have an uncanny history of her own to hide?
As Delores tries to save herself and her housemates, she attracts the unwelcome attention of a murderous Boçan, or evil spirit, intent on stealing her paranormal gifts.
Can Delores defeat her enemies, and maybe her own family too, to save everyone she loves at the Tolbooth?
‘I love the whole creepy, gothic, sensation-rich world that Yvonne has created around Delores and the Tolbooth Bookstore,’ said Thomas. ‘With beguiling, original characters, subtle relationships, and a real sense of danger, this is an adventure which even includes a grumpy, sherbert-straw-munching gargoyle with a blue blanket. What’s not to love?’
Yvonne Banham said: ‘I had such a great time working on the first Delores Mackenzie book with Penny Thomas and the Firefly team, so it was an absolute joy to find out I’d be working with them on more spooky adventures in Edinburgh Old Town. I knew I hadn’t finished causing problems for Delores and it’s been a lot of fun writing some darkly ghoulish new ones.’
The novel is slated for publication 12th September 2024.
Praise for The Dark and Dangerous Gifts of Delores Mackenzie:
