For this month’s Meet the Publisher, we are featuring our long-time publishing partner Andersen Press! UK-based Andersen was the first publisher to partner with Lerner oh so many years ago, and we are thrilled that they’ve stuck around! The Andersen catalog now features over 100 picture books available to the US market through Lerner Publisher Services. Read on to learn more about this extraordinary publisher.
What is Andersen Press?
Founded in 1976 by Klaus Flugge, Andersen Press is a leading independent children’s publishing house renowned for its award-winning picture books and fiction for young adults. Andersen Press is home to current UK Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and multi-award-winning Harry Woodgate, as well as best-loved illustrators such as Quentin Blake and Chris Riddell. Andersen Press USA publishes work from the most original children’s book creators and fiction writers from around the world.
Distributed by Lerner Publishing Group, the Andersen Press USA imprint brings some of the most well-known and best-loved children’s books that have been published in the United Kingdom to American readers. The collection includes select titles from David McKee’s classic Elmer picture book series, and Tony Ross’s Little Princess stories, as well as single titles from multi-award-winning Jeanne Willis, Satoshi Kitamura, and many other talented authors.
Each season, Lerner Publishing Group staff handpick titles from among the dozens of wonderful books published by Andersen Press. In the Andersen Press USA editions, British spellings and word choices are Americanized, to avoid distracting young readers and better suit the US market.
Tell us how Andersen Press started?
Our founder, Klaus Flugge, was born in Germany in 1934. He trained as a bookseller in Leipzig, but his political views forced him to flee East Germany in 1953, arriving eventually in New York in 1957. There he worked for Abelard-Schuman who, in 1962, asked him to run their London office. He became Managing Director and Publisher of adult and children’s books initially finding British artists, like Quentin Blake, Charles Keeping, and John Vernon Lord, for American manuscripts. Soon after Klaus began commissioning his own books, which included titles by Edward Ardizzone, Joan Aiken, and David McKee whose first book was published in 1964. It was called Two-Can Toucan – a book that is still in print with Andersen Press today.
In 1976, Klaus set up his own publishing company – Andersen Press – named in tribute to Hans Christian Andersen. The first book on the list was Goldilocks and the Three Bears by the then newly-discovered Tony Ross – now the UK’s best-selling illustrator! The Andersen Press list now consists of over 2000 published titles, the majority of which are still in print.
Klaus, who turns 90 this year, was awarded the prestigious London Bookfair Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023, and his vision is still at the heart of our award-winning list.
How would you describe your publishing vision?
Andersen Press has always been at the cutting edge of children’s publishing in Great Britain. In 2024, we keep a great balance of classic publishing alongside a drive to discover new talent, and to create engaging, exciting, and entertaining children’s books that are reflective of the experiences, thoughts, and feelings of children worldwide. Diversity and inclusivity is at the core of Andersen Press’s publishing, and we are committed to publishing books in which children from all walks of life can recognize themselves. Whether we are tackling bullying (The Trouble with Earth, Alex Latimer), fixing bad moods (Grumpy Hat, Nicola Kent), considering disability in playtime (Four Bad Unicorns, Rebecca Patterson), or giving children tools to help them deal with nightmares (Wolves in Helicopters, Sarah Tagholm and Paddy Donnelly), our list is built to entertain and empower children, and we strive to seek new and authentic voices to do so.
Any upcoming projects you’re particularly excited about?
On our Spring 2024 list, look out for The Trouble with Earth, by Alex Latimer. It tackles bullying – the other planets in the solar system won’t invite Earth on their summer vacation because they think she has fleas – and has a fantastic non-fiction twist, when the planets discover the ‘fleas’ are in fact Earth’s incredible life! Alex Latimer is one of the most exciting voices in picture books, and the way he uses perspective in his illustrations so that we can zoom in on the surface of Earth to see her incredible biodiversity, is a stroke of genius. Not to mention the little details he includes, such as the moon featuring as Earth’s pet dog! If his illustrations have a wow-effect, then his bouncy, rhyming text are the perfect pairing – so rarely does a picture book tackle a subject so important as bullying and othering with such humor and charm.
Our Fall 2024 list is a fantastic mix of young, funny books, and older theme-focused titles. A personal favorite is The Zoo Inside Me, which is written by former social care worker Ruth Doyle and illustrated by Yessica Baeten. Ruth wrote The Zoo Inside Me to help children who are neurodivergent, and children who have classmates or family members who are neurodivergent, to understand and empathize with their feelings. In each scene, a little boy takes on the personality of a new zoo animal to reflect the way he’s feeling inside – a mischievous, fun-loving monkey, a quietly staring llama, or a shy chameleon, just trying to blend in. He asks us not to feel differently about him because he himself might seem different, because deep down inside, we all have a zoo inside us. Ruth’s experience with neurodivergent children shines through, and that insight coupled with her brilliant, rhyming text and Yessica’s fun and engaging illustrations make this a very special, very timely picture book that we hope will resonate with children around the world.
To learn more, visit Andersen Press on Facebook, X, and YouTube, and browse all of the amazing Andersen Press picture books on www.lernerbooks.com!