Children’s author Michael Sampson will unveil his namesake imprint Michael Sampson Books, for publisher Brown Books Publishing Group, later this year.
For the imprint, Sampson will offer his insight on editorial picks alongside Brown Books president and COO, Thomas Reale, who will also act as the imprint’s editorial acquisitions director.
On their collaboration, Reale said in a statement, “Over time, we began talking about storytelling in general and the authors we both like and admire. The conversation about establishing an imprint progressed naturally from there.”
Within its first year, Michael Sampson Books plans to release 10 children’s books in alignment with the imprint’s mission to promote authors and illustrators prioritizing literacy for young readers. The imprint’s inaugural release will be the picture book Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist by author-illustrator Violet Lemay, scheduled for release this fall.
Sampson started his career in children’s publishing in 1992 with the release of the picture book The Football That Won, illustrated by Ted Rand. Since then, Sampson has published more than 30 books for young readers, including several collaborations with the late Bill Martin Jr., including Armadillo Antics and Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3. Sampson and Martin’s longstanding partnership, Sampson said, offered inspiration for the imprint’s mission.
“The books will follow Bill’s innovative approach to reading, founded on the idea that when a child loves a story, they will read it repeatedly until they know it by heart,” Sampson said in a statement. “The more books a child loves, the more they will love reading.”
