In two days, the series adaptation of Shadow and Bone returns to Netflix—but Leigh Bardugo has even more huge news. Macmillan just announced that the bestselling author has signed an eight-figure, multi-million-dollar deal “for a slate of new projects to be published across multiple divisions of the company, in a variety of formats, age categories, and genres.”
The deal includes work to be published with Flatiron Books, Nightfire, Roaring Brook Press, and First Second Books—four imprints which encompass adult novels, horror, children’s and YA books, and graphic novels for young readers.
A press release offers no details about the stories Bardugo has planned, noting only that the first books covered by this deal should arrive in 2024. In a statement, Bardugo said:
Macmillan took a chance on me over a decade ago and they’ve been my home ever since. When no one in YA was interested in epic fantasy, they welcomed Shadow and Bone. When everyone wanted books about kings and queens, they rolled the dice on my team of six outcasts trying to pull off an impossible heist. And when I wanted to go someplace far darker, they backed me in welcoming readers to Ninth House. Publishing is a tough business and it’s no small thing to be able to write the stories I’m most passionate about.
Bardugo’s first novel was 2012’s Shadow and Bone, which was followed by a whole passel of novels set in the author’s Grishaverse. She expanded into writing for adults with 2019’s Ninth House, which was followed by a sequel, Hell Bent, this year. Ninth House is in development as a series, with Bardugo writing and executive producing alongside Jeff Pinkner (Fringe, Alias).
Macmillan CEO Jon Yaged said, “Being a part of Leigh’s journey from debut author to young adult sensation to international fiction juggernaut has been a highlight of my time at Macmillan. Her unquestionable talent as a storyteller was evident from the get-go. As a publisher and longtime reader and fan, I could not be more excited about these new projects.”
