Kids Can Press Announces New Young Adult Imprint: KCP Loft

Powerhouse YA editor Kate Egan joins KCP Loft as Editorial Director at Large
Imprint launches in 2017 with four fiction titles

TORONTO, April 11, 2016 /CNW/ - Corus Entertainment's Kids Can Press (KCP), the award-winning publisher of over 700 books for children, whose history spans over 40 years, announced today a new imprint, KCP Loft, which will focus entirely on Young Adult (YA) fiction and nonfiction, with respected editor Kate Egan at the helm as Editorial Director at Large.

Geared to readers 14 and up with crossover appeal to adult readers, KCP Loft explores the first loves and deep friendships, the heartbreak and life-altering crossroads on the road to adulthood. Engrossing, shareable, contemporary and smart, these are the must-haves for readers hungry for the next world to get lost in.

KCP Loft will release four novels in 2017, including Zenn Diagram from debut, Chicago-area novelist Wendy Brant; Textrovert, based on Lindsey Summers's wildly popular Wattpad novel; Just a Normal Tuesday by Daytime Emmy Award–winning writer and producer Kim Turrisi; and Keeping the Beat, originally published as Drummer Girl to critical acclaim in the UK, from screenwriter and journalist Bridget Tyler and Canadian author and producer Jeff Norton.

"We are thrilled that our imprint will be expertly curated by Kate Egan," said Lisa Lyons Johnston, President of Kids Can Press. "One of the genre's most highly regarded editors, Kate has a 20-year publishing track record and is notable for her YA experience, including her work on the phenomenal Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Kate has already brought her considerable knowledge, talent and energy to Loft, and we look forward to the fresh voices she'll discover."

"I'm so excited to be working with Lisa and her team to build a new list from the ground up," added Egan. "Opportunities like this don't come around very often, especially from a publisher with the stature of Kids Can Press and a parent company like Corus that shares and supports our vision for a dynamic list with the potential to grow beyond books." 

Reporting to KCP President Lisa Lyons Johnston, Egan will make acquisitions decisions in collaboration with an advisory panel of Kids Can Press and Corus team members and serve as editor on all Loft titles. The KCP Loft team has the distinct advantage of being able to work with Corus colleagues to expand and develop projects from page to screen and vice versa. In some instances, books will be considered for Corus-affiliated TV or web programming, and appropriate broadcast content will be considered for book adaptations.

The first four books from KCP Loft are scheduled to release in 2017:

• Zenn Diagram (Wendy Brant) looks at the burgeoning romance between Eva, an eighteen-year-old math prodigy and her lone-wolf pupil, Zenn. Eva has an unexplainable ability to see a person's past simply by touching them or their belongings, but for some reason she can't get a read on Zenn. When the two discover the history that links them, the truth threatens to tear their lives apart.
  
  
• Textrovert (Lindsey Summers) is a creative twist on the "meet-cute" story, based on the wildly popular Wattpad story, The Cell Phone Swap, which has 74 million reads. Headquartered in Toronto, Wattpad is a free storytelling app that boasts over 40 million members around the world.
  
  
• Just a Normal Tuesday (Kim Turrisi) is the heart-wrenching story of a young woman's struggle through the emotional aftermath of her beloved sister's suicide. Turrisi is the Director of Special Projects at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.  She also wrote for Freeform's (formerly ABC Family) webisode series Pretty Dirty Secrets, an internet companion piece to the smash hit Pretty Little Liars. Just a Normal Tuesday is her debut novel.
  
  
• Keeping the Beat (Bridget Tyler and Jeff Norton) explores the friendship-straining demands of being in an L.A.-bound English rock band on the dark and dangerous road to celebrity. Jeff Norton is the Canadian-born, London-based author of the popular YA sci-fi series MetaWars, among other books. Norton is currently an Executive Producer on Trucktown for Nelvana/Treehouse (Corus), and the founder of creative think tank Awesome. This is the first book for Bridget Tyler, a California-based screenwriter and journalist.

About Kate Egan
Kate Egan has worked in children's publishing for 20 years, first at Scholastic and then as a freelancer based at her home in Maine. She has edited many award-winning authors and is the author of the picture book Kate and Nate Are Running Late! (illustrated by Dan Yaccarino) and the chapter book series The Magic Shop (written with magician Mike Lane), all published by Feiwel and Friends. Kate lives with her family in a small college town, where she is also the president of her local public library. 

About Kids Can Press
Kids Can Press, part of the Corus Entertainment family, is the largest Canadian-owned children's publisher. Its catalog includes an award-winning list of over 700 picture books and nonfiction and fiction titles for young readers. For over 40 years, Kids Can Press has distinguished itself as a publisher of exceptional children's books and continues this tradition with its digital publications, custom-publishing partnerships and brand marketing initiatives. Kids Can Press is distributed worldwide by Hachette Book Group. Browse Kids Can Press books at www.kidscanpress.com.

About Corus Entertainment Inc. 
Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B) is a leading media and content company that creates and delivers high quality brands and content across platforms for audiences around the world. The company's portfolio of multimedia offerings encompasses 45 specialty television services, 39 radio stations, 15 conventional television stations, a global content business, digital assets, live events, children's book publishing, animation software, technology and media services. Corus' roster of premium brands include Global Television, W Network, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network Canada, HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY®, Showcase, National Geographic Channel, Q107, CKNW, Fresh Radio, Disney Channel Canada, YTV and Nickelodeon Canada. Visit Corus at www.corusent.com.

SOURCE Corus Entertainment Inc.

Michaela Cornell, Communications Strategist, [email protected], 416-479-6766