Kate DiCamillo, like the hero of her 12th novel, The True Story of Child Outlaw Edith Leapyear as Told by Herself, is making a "leap"--to W.W. Norton. DiCamillo's upcoming novel will be one of the inaugural titles in Norton's newly expanded children's book program launching in spring 2027.
 |
|
| Kate DiCamillo (photo: Dina Kantor) |
|
This is a full-circle moment for DiCamillo and Karen Lotz, director of children's books and strategic development at Norton since September 2025. Lotz read the manuscript for Because of Winn-Dixie, DiCamillo's debut novel and a Newbery Honor book, on her first day at Candlewick. And now, in Lotz's new role at Norton, DiCamillo's book was one of the first books she bought. Lotz acquired world English-language rights from Holly M. McGhee, president and creative director of Pippin Properties, for "a major amount," according to McGhee. Ahead of the Bologna Book Fair next week, McGhee said they've already sold 11 translations of The True Story of Child Outlaw Edith Leapyear, as Told by Herself.
"When I came through the doors [of W.W. Norton]," Lotz said, "it was a feeling of being with people who clearly loved books and loved each other. It felt familiar and it felt like home." DiCamillo, too, was struck by "the love of books and the cohesiveness of the team."
When asked why DiCamillo, whose body of work (including her two Newbery-winning novels, The Tale of Despereaux and Flora and Ulysses) almost entirely resides at Candlewick, made the decision to move to Norton, she answered, "A character can sometimes influence how you look at the world and encourage you to try something new, and so this is me following Edith and listening to her." She pointed to the Norton logo as being so much a part of her as a reader, "and it is the thing that is in my head as I think about all this, it's very much about me spreading my wings." At Norton, Lotz will also have the opportunity to edit books for adults, something she did while at Penguin Young Readers when her children's book authors wanted to write for adults; DiCamillo will also have that option at Norton.
"It's exciting to think about," Lotz said of the range of possibilities, "because the longer I've been in our world, I've realized that one of the things I don't love are all the barriers that are put up in front of readers. Some of them are not deliberate; they're consequences of how books are sold and how the world works. Some of them are deliberate, and those get me worked up. But being at a place that brings those barriers down, I think that's something Norton is growing into on the young readers side. It's relatively new for them, but they're so interested in learning more about bringing 'books that live' [Norton's motto] to readers of all ages."
With The True Story of Child Outlaw Edith Leapyear, as Told by Herself, DiCamillo returns to a first-person narrative, used sparingly in her novels--only in Because of Winn-Dixie and Louisiana's Way Home before this one. "First-person is a delight to write and is also a high-wire act," she explained when asked why she returned to it for her 12th novel. "You have so much more control when you're not in first person. This is a little bit like Louisiana's Way; I kept backing up, redirecting, and it would not be told any way but first person. The character is always smarter than I am. Why it needed to happen became abundantly clear to me as I was doing the penultimate draft before people read it. This is someone claiming themselves absolutely. It was empowering to watch Edith do that, and it's why we're talking today, because it empowered me, too."
"This is also Norton taking a leap," Lotz pointed out. "We're all leaping together." Lotz said that Norton has been committed to children's books for a while now. "But they made a very conscious decision that they were going to expand and support and broaden and deepen those efforts." In 2023, Norton celebrated its centennial. "They've done amazing trade books forever," Lotz said. "But children's books are still something quite new for them. "And they're saying, 'We're all in,' and that is a leap. When Kate said she could see the cohesiveness of the team, it's because everyone read [Edith Leapyear]. I feel like it brought Norton together in a way that was really fun and amazing."
DiCamillo appeared in conversation with Ann Patchett at the Public Library Association conference in Minneapolis earlier this week. "We were talking with somebody who is a librarian and who decided that they wanted to be a librarian when she read The Tale of Despereaux as a kid. She had her childhood copy with her," DiCamillo said. "And so it's owning all of that and thinking, okay, let's occupy this space fully and leap."
"This is what I'm supposed to do in the world," DiCamillo said. "Let me occupy it fully, to make those connections that make a kid feel seen. And through feeling seen, empower them to be themselves in the world." --Jennifer M. Brown