More good news for Maggie Stiefvater fans: hot off the author’s Printz Honor for The Scorpio Races at last week’s ALA Youth Media Awards, Scholastic has announced the publication of a new four-book series from Stiefvater. The first book in the series, The Raven Boys, will be published by Scholastic Press on September 18; three additional books in the Raven Cycle will follow.
“Maggie has an extraordinary ability to balance epic storytelling and deeply personal truths, exploring both the mythology that surrounds us and the myths we tell about ourselves,” said David Levithan, Scholastic Press publisher and editorial director, in announcing the new series. “The Raven Boys is a remarkable next step in an already remarkable career.” Levithan acquired the Raven Cycle from Laura Rennert at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
The book introduces Richard “Dick” Campbell Gansey, III, a handsome private school student seeking a vanished Welsh King, and Blue Sargent, the daughter of a psychic, who has been told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. “I grew up on a diet of exceptional fantasy series for children—The Dark Is Rising, The Black Cauldron, A Wrinkle in Time, The Chronicles of Narnia—and I’ve always wanted to write one of those sprawling epic sagas built from intimate moments,” said Stiefvater in a statement.
Scholastic holds world rights to the series, which will have simultaneous launches in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The Raven Boys will be available in audio and e-book in September, as well. More than 1.7 million copies of Stiefvater’s Shiver trilogy are in print.
