Hardie Grant Children’s launches new illustrated imprint
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has announced the creation of Bright Light, a new illustrated imprint that will publish 20 titles a year exploring privilege, race, equality, the environment, bodies and gender ‘in ways that are engaging, fun, accessible and helpful for modern families and young readers’.
Launching in January 2021, the new imprint will be led by HGCP publishing director Marisa Pintado and commercial director Kate Brown, with two new appointments in associate publisher Alyson O’Brien and head of design Pooja Desai.
According to the publisher, Bright Light will ‘showcase a diverse range of creators, with a focus on amplifying Indigenous voices, members of LGBTQI+ community, people of colour and up-and-coming Australian artists. The list will also capitalise on Hardie Grant Children’s international footprint by targeting key English-language markets overseas such as North America, the UK and south-east Asia.’
Bright Light will debut with titles publishing in January 2021 including How To Be a Real Man by author-illustrator Scott Stuart, who went viral on TikTok when he and his son dressed up as Elsa to go see Frozen 2, and Day Break by Amy McQuire and Matt Chun, a picture book about what January 26 means to many Australians and why it should be a day of remembrance rather than celebration. Existing HGCP books such as Sophie Beer’s Change Starts With Us and Love Makes a Family will also be published under the new imprint.
‘We know that conversations about privilege, anti-racism, sovereignty and equality are critical in raising children to become good citizens of the world—but they’re also notoriously tricky to start and keep going,’ said Pintado. ‘Of course parents can talk to their kids about these topics any day of the week, but it can be so powerful and illuminating to use a story as a prompt for that discussion. Bright Light is all about providing those prompts so that parents can guide their children confidently.’
Category: Local news
