Pokey Hat

Island-based publisher, Cranachan, is to launch a brand-new Young Adult imprint ‘Gob Stopper’. Adding to their successful Pokey Hat imprint, which specialises in high quality historical fiction for 8-12-year olds, Cranachan hope to extend their readership by targeting teen readers in Scotland.

The Gob Stopper imprint will include a clutch of strong, Scottish-set titles. Ross Sayers, whose debut novel with Cranachan, Mary’s the Name, was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book Award in 2017, will be the first author published under the new imprint with his latest novel, Sonny and Me, out in May 2019.

Written in Scots and set in a fictitious Stirling secondary school, Sonny and Me, is described as Still Game meets Gregory’s Girl. The story follows two pals, Daughter and Sonny, as they try to get through fourth year at high school. When their favourite teacher leaves unexpectedly, and no one will say why, the boys decide to start their own investigation. As they dig deeper into the staff at Battlefield High, they discover a dark secret which one person will kill to protect… Will they uncover the truth without being expelled? Can their friendship survive when personal secrets are revealed? And will they manage to skive off double English?

Cranachan’s Publicity and Sales Manager, Kelly Macdonald, says “we want to publish books that are relevant; that teens can identify with the themes and recognise themselves in the pages. Sonny and Me is YA at its best for Scottish teenagers: it’s fresh, funny, and it explores diversity and LGBT issues too. With two male protagonists, we are also hopeful that Sonny and Me could reach some of the hard-to-reach reluctant readers in schools too.”

Further titles to be released under the new imprint include Girl in a Cage by literary heavyweights Jane Yolen and Robert J Harris, about Robert the Bruce’s daughter Marjorie and her kidnapping by the Edward 1 and The Stone of Destiny, an epic fantasy series by debut author Caroline Logan, which is described as Outlander meets Lord of the Rings.

Sonny and Me by Ross Sayers is out in May 2019.

As they like to say at Cranachan HQ – ‘the proof of the pudding is in the reading.’

/ENDS

Editor’s Notes

For further information, or to obtain Advance Review Copies of forthcoming titles, please contact:

Kelly Macdonald

07511 223127

kelly@cranachanpublishing.co.uk

Release issued by:

Kelly Macdonald

Cranachan Publishing

07511 223127

kelly@cranachanpublishing.co.uk

About Cranachan Publishing

Established at the beginning of 2016, Cranachan publish high quality children’s fiction and nonfiction, under the Pokey Hat imprint.  Readers, young and old alike, can escape to Scotland by experiencing its culture and history through the medium of story, wherever they live in the world. Cranachan also publish educational resources for teachers. Their new YA imprint, Gob Stopper is launching in 2019.

cranachanpublishing.co.uk  @cranachanbooks