Tag: HarperCollins UK

The Known World

The Known World
The Pulitzer Prize–winning novel that examines the troubling complexities of slavery. More

Fermat’s Last Theorem

Fermat’s Last Theorem
International number one bestseller about solving a puzzle that had confounded mathematicians since the seventeenth century. More

The Hobbit

A letter from J. R. R. Tolkien to his editor regarding the first chapter of his “sequel” to The Hobbit, titled “A Long-expected Party”—which would become the first chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring.
In October 1936, Stanley Unwin, chairman of British publishers George Allen & Unwin (later acquired by HarperCollins), received a children’s book submission. More

George R. R. Martin

The Collectors’ Preview Edition of A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, Book One of A Song of Ice and Fire.
It was in 1993 that George R. R. Martin–already an acclaimed author of science fiction and horror novels, and well known for his work in Hollywood as a screenwriter on The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast–decided he needed a broader outlet for his creativity and conceived of A Song of Ice and Fire, a truly monumental fantasy series. More

Papillon

Papillon
A bestselling phenomenon and classic memoir of prison breaks and adventure. More

Letter from C. S. Lewis

Letter from C. S. Lewis
In this letter to Collins publisher Billy Collins, dated November 1954, C. S. Lewis—author of The Chronicles of Narnia series, Mere Christianity, and The Screwtape Letters, among others—outlines what he sees as his three types of “literary output”: “A. Religious and General. B. Fiction. C. Academic.” More

Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall
Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. More

Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia
Newbery Medal–winning novel; a true modern classic and touchstone of children’s literature. More

A Bear Called Paddington

An early cover layout for A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond, published by Collins in 1958.
In 1958, an editor at Collins named Barbara Ker Wilson received a manuscript submission about a talking bear, which she opened with “initial suspicion” —as the publisher had received many other proposals featuring humanized animals that “are invariably either whimsy-whamsy, written down, or filled with adult innuendoes.” More

Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl’s Moving Castle
This popular novel stars one of the most beloved and charismatic characters in children’s literature. More

William Collins

Charles Chalmers and Rev. Thomas Chalmers.
Born on the south side of Glasgow in the village of Pollokshaws in 1789, William Collins left school to work as a weaver and clerk in a local cotton mill. More