Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: Black Dolls, graphic novel

Rachel Faturoti & Flo Woolley Sell Rights To Black Dolls Graphic Novel

Rachel Faturoti and Flo Woolley sell world rights to Hachette for their Black Dolls Graphic Novel series, beginning in 2025

Published Tue, 03 Dec 2024 08:57:08 -0600

by Rich Johnston

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Article Summary

Rachel Faturoti & Flo Woolley launch YA graphic novel series, Black Dolls, with Hachette, debuting in 2025.
Black Dolls follows four Black British teens forming a pop-punk band to challenge the music industry's norms.
Volume 1, out July 2025, explores identity, rivalry, and dreams with vibrant punk aesthetic illustrations.
Black Dolls series celebrates diversity in UK YA, aiming to boost Black representation in graphic novels.

Writer Rachel Faturoti and artist Flo Woolley have created a new YA graphic novel series, Black Dolls about four Black British teen girls forming a pop-punk band to take on the music industry.

Black Dolls Vol. 1: A YA graphic novel about figuring out your identity in a world that tries to define you Paperback – 17 July 2025
by Rachel Faturoti, Flo Woolley
For fans of heartfelt graphic novels like Heartstopper and the kick-ass rock of We Are Lady Parts. Four Black teenagers take on the music industry to smash its exclusionist rules! SLAY. Jada has always dreamed of tearing up the outdated rulebook of the music industry. When Clash of the Bands is announced, she grabs the chance to create Black Dolls: Influencer Sassy on lead vocals. Silvee, shy but a killer bassist. Dana, guitarist and ex-child star with insider knowledge on the industry. And Jada, rhythm legend on drums and vocals. But with competing leads and rivalries, band life is continual drama. The Black Dolls battle overbearing families, identity questions, paternity tests, and media exploitation as they try to keep their dreams alive. Can Black Dolls overcome their differences and take over the music industry? Or will they crash and burn before they skyrocket . . .

Hachette Children's Group has acquired world rights for two books with Lizzie Clifford, editorial director at Hachette Children's Group. Rachel Faturoti's agent Alice Sutherland-Hawes at ASH Literary, and Flo Woolley's agent James Wills at Watson Little Ltd negotiated the deal. Black Dolls Volume 1 will publish in paperback on the 3rd of July 2025, with Volume 2 following in 2026.

Clifford said: "Black Dolls Volume 1 is packed with attitude, spiky humour and big dreams. YA readers will wildly cheer as our protagonists demand their spotlight! Black Dolls is all about not letting the world define who you are and what you can be—a kick-ass tour de force delivered in edgy, vibrant punk aesthetic illustrations which will deeply resonate with YA graphic novel fans. I couldn't be prouder to be publishing much needed UK YA Black Hachette Children's Group."

Faturoti said: "I am so excited for Black Dolls to exist! We desperately need more Black representation in UK YA graphic novels, and it's been a pleasure bringing these girls to life. I can't wait for readers to meet the band and to root for them too."

Woolley said: "I'm really honoured to be working on such a fun and important project—the script and characters are so full of life, it's such a treat to draw. As a lover of everything punk, especially live music, I hope I have brought it all to life—the electricity of performance, the joy of finding new friends and coming into yourself, the comedy and angst of being a teenager. Music connects us in the most unexpected ways, and this is at the core of Black Dolls."

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