Debut writers recognised

The Branford Boase Award, which recognises outstanding debut writers and their editors, has announced the longlist for the 2018 award.

The award is given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children and it has a notable track record in picking out the most talented stars of children's literature, with previous winners and shortlisted authors including Siobhan Dowd, Meg Rosoff, Mal Peet, Philip Reeve, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Patrick Ness, as well as Costa Book Award winner Frances Hardinge who won with her debut novel Fly By Night in 2006. More than 50 debut books were submitted; 20 have made it onto the longlist. These include Jigsaw of Fire and Stars, by Yaba Badoe, one of the launch titles on new Head of Zeus children's imprint, Zephyr; and two books, Who Let the Gods Out by Maz Evans and The Elephant Thief by Jane Kerr, edited by last year's winning editor, Rachel Leyshon of Chicken House. The shortlist for the Award will be announced on 2 May 2018 and the winner will be announced on 4 July at a ceremony in London. This year's judges include Urmi Merchant of children's bookshop Pickled Pepper Books; Helen Swinyard, librarian at Heartlands High School; reviewer Philip Womack; and M.G. (Maya) Leonard, author of Beetle Boy and winner of the 2017 Branford Boase Award. The panel is chaired by Julia Eccleshare, children's director of the Hay Festival. The Branford Boase Award longlist in full: A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars by Yaba Badoe, edited by Fiona Kennedy (Head of Zeus: Zephyr) The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr, edited by Ruth Knowles (Penguin) Troublemakers by Catherine Barter, edited by Chloe Sackur and Charlie Sheppard (Andersen Press) Ink by Alice Broadway, edited by Genevieve Herr (Scholastic) The Starman and Me by Sharon Cohen, edited by Sarah Lambert (Quercus Children's Books) No Filter by Orlagh Collins, edited by Hannah Sandford (Bloomsbury) Notes on My Family by Emily Critchley edited by Mikka Haugaard (Everything With Words) Fish Boy by Chloe Daykin, edited by Leah Thaxton (Faber) Knighthood for Beginners by Elys Dolan, edited by Clare Whitson and Elv Moody (Oxford) Who Let the Gods Out? by Maz Evans, edited by Rachel Leyshon (Chicken House) Noah Can't Even by Simon James Green, edited by Linas Alsenas (Scholastic) Countless by Karen Gregory, edited by Hannah Sandford (Bloomsbury) Kick by Mitch Johnson, edited by Rebecca Hill and Becky Walker (Usborne) The Elephant Thief by Jane Kerr, edited by Rachel Leyshon (Chicken House) Potter's Boy by Tony Mitton, edited by Anthony Hinton (David Fickling Books) The Taste of Blue Light by Lydia Ruffles, edited by Polly Lyall-Grant (Hodder Children's Books) The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson edited by Lauren Fortune (Scholastic) The City of Secret Rivers by Jacob Sager Weinstein, edited by Gill Evans (Walker Books) A Girl Called Owl by Amy Wilson, edited by Lucy Pearse (Macmillan) Farewell Tour of a Terminal Optimist by John Young, edited by Lois Wilson-McFarland and Sally Polson (Floris)