PRH acquires Carter middle-grade series

Penguin Random House (PRH) Australia has acquired ANZ rights for Reece Carter’s new middle-grade series The Nightmare League, in a six-publisher auction brokered by Gemma Cooper from Gemma Cooper Literary.

The Nightmare League is ‘an adventure-driven series which follows eleven-year-old Max who discovers a covert agency of kid spies that secretly defends Melbourne (and the world) against a growing threat of monsters,’ said the publisher.

Carter is the author of A Girl Called Corpse (A&U Children’s). Now Sydney-based, he grew up on his family farm in Tammin, Western Australia. There was an unfortunate lack of witches and ghosts though, so he had to find them in books instead.

PRH publisher Rebecca McRitchie said: ‘We are incredibly excited to be publishing Reece Carter’s Nightmare League. It is bursting with monsters, mysteries, and danger, and readers are going to love diving headfirst into the action-packed world Reece has created.’

Carter said, ‘Urban legends and hidden history – two things the tunnels beneath Melbourne offer in spades. How could I not write a story about them? Reimagined as a labyrinth where monsters and mysteries lurk around every corner, our only defence is a top-secret league of kid spies. I’m thrilled Max and his friends have found the perfect home at Penguin Random House Australia, and I can’t wait for young readers to set foot into this world of coded messages and dangerous chase scenes – not to mention more gadgets and gizmos than you can poke a claw at!’

The first book in the Nightmare League series is scheduled for release in 2026.

Category: Local news News Rights and acquisitions