YA romance readers have a new reason to swoon: Random House Children’s Books has announced the launch of an imprint led by bestselling authors and married couple Nicola and David Yoon. Debuting in 2022, the imprint, called Joy Revolution, will be devoted to publishing teen love stories by and about people of color.
Wendy Loggia, senior executive editor at Delacorte Press, will oversee the imprint. The Yoons will partner with a soon-to-be-hired editor within Delacorte to acquire titles and shape the list, working with the team at RHCB throughout the publishing process.
National Book Award finalist, Printz Honoree, and Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner Nicola Yoon, author of Everything, Everything and The Sun Is Also a Star, said in a statement that the imprint is born of her passion for stories of the heart, as well as her desire to reflect our diverse world. “I loved romantic comedies and romance novels when I was younger. Loved the meet-cutes, the breakups, the make-ups, and the final chase scene followed by the big speech declaring one person’s love for the other. I had so many favorites: When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, Before Sunrise, Say Anything, Moonstruck, not to mention an unreasonable number of Harlequin romance books. But as much as I loved those titles, they always left me with nagging questions: Where were the girls who looked like me? Didn’t Black girls ever fall in love? Joy Revolution is not focused on stories of Black pain or immigrant struggle. Our books won’t be issue-oriented or polemical. The Joy Revolution imprint is all about telling stories of big love. The characters in them have big ideas about the world and their place in it. I believe love stories are truly revolutionary. Because love has the power to unmake and remake the world.”
William C. Morris Award finalist and Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature Honoree David Yoon, author of Frankly in Love and the forthcoming Super Fake Love Song, added, “Nicki and I created Joy Revolution as an antidote for a media landscape where people of color have relentlessly been erased, except for those rare occasions when their pain can teach white people about racism. Joy Revolution is a safe haven for readers like me and Nicki to see themselves as the romantic hero, free to pursue their bliss however they want, unrestrained and unencumbered. After a literal lifetime of waiting for more romantic literary heroes who look like us—largely to no avail—we’re thrilled to help take the lead in making sure those heroes’ stories are told to a wide and beautifully diverse audience.”
Jodi Reamer at Writers House negotiated the deal on behalf of the Yoons with Random House Children’s Books. Both David and Nicola will also continue to write their individual novels: David under the Putnam imprint at Penguin Young Readers, and Nicola at Delacorte Press.
