Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Agent, andrea bell, graphic novel, HarperAlley., karina evans, Mille Of The Manor. Middle-Grade. Graphic Novel
Five Publishers Bid on Mille Of The Manor Middle-Grade Graphic Novel
Mille of the Manor, is a new middle-grade graphic novel by Karina Evans and Andrea Bell that follows 11-year-old Millie as she navigates her crushing social anxiety when she's invited to a murder mystery birthday party. After an auction between five publishing houses, Andrew Arnold at HarperAlley got the world English rights to Mille of the Manor and will be publishing the graphic novel in the winter of 2025. Karina Evans and Andrea Bell's agent Jessica Mileo and Claire Friedman at InkWell Management negotiated the deal.
Andrea Bell is an illustrator and comic artist living in Chicago. In 2013 she earned her BFA in Illustration from Columbia College Chicago and has since self-published Fair Voyage and Still Waiting. Andrea has since gone on to work on Diary of a Fifth Grade Outlaw with Epic! Creations and the 2021 title The Leak with First Second.
Karina Evans is a children's author from Santa Barbara, California, who studied English at the University of Delaware before starting a career in the entertainment industry. She works in marketing for Sony Pictures and has previously worked for Lucasfilm and Paramount Pictures. She just published her first book Grow Up, Tahlia Wilkins! through Little, Brown. Her next book Audrey Covington Breaks The Rules will be published in the winter of 2023.
HarperAlley is a graphic novel imprint launched from HarperCollins Children's Books under the direction of former art director and acquiring editor at First Second, Andrew Arnold last year, described as a "collaborative, creator-focused publisher" that will specialize in graphic novels for "readers of all ages." The new line is "looking to publish books that readers of all ages can enjoy, from the youngest readers to teens and adults. We believe that a good story is a story that any reader can relate to. That's what we mean when we say "readers of all ages." HarperAlley is looking to publish about ten books a season, or about thirty books a year and is one of a number of mainstream book publishers that has been rapidly increasing the number of graphic novels for younger readers.