Bonnier Books UK has acquired independent Scottish publisher, Black & White Publishing, as part of its long-term strategy for growth. The transaction completed last Thursday [22nd July] and will see Bonnier Books UK further expand its footprint in the UK trade.

Black & White Publishing will run as a standalone imprint of Bonnier Books UK, and continue to be led by Managing Director, Campbell Brown, and Publishing Director, Alison McBride. The team will remain based from Black & White’s offices in Edinburgh, with Brown reporting into Bonnier Books UK CEO, Perminder Mann.

Founded in 1999, Black & White is one of Scotland’s leading book publishers and had an annual turnover of £1.8m in 2020/2021. With a focus on Scottish and Irish interest publishing, Black & White publishes 30-40 books a year across biography, sport, humour, general non-fiction, fiction, YA and children’s. Authors include one- of-a-kind rugby great Doddie Weir, international YA star Estelle Maskame, MasterChef: The Professionals 2016 champion Gary Maclean and Great British Bake Off 2020 winner Peter Sawkins.

Recent titles published by Black & White include the heart-warming bestseller Olive, Mabel & Me by Andrew Cotter; When the World Stops Watching by award-winning sports writer and broadcaster Damian Lawlor; poetry collection Burns for Every Day of the Year curated by Dr. Pauline Mackay and The Glasgow Gruffalo’s Wean, a new edition of Julia Donaldson and Axel Schleffer’s classic, The Gruffalo’s Child, translated into Glaswegian by Elaine C. Smith.

The publisher also runs the award-winning Itchy Coo list, which publishes books in Scots for children. Itchy Coo has published translations into Scots of authors including Raymond Briggs, Roald Dahl, Julia Donaldson, Jeff Kinney and J.K. Rowling.

Perminder Mann said: “I’m thrilled that Campbell and the team at Black & White will be joining the team at Bonnier. Their publishing is perfectly aligned with our long- term strategy for growth. We share a passion for publishing for everyone and see an exciting opportunity to invest and grow Black & White, whilst ensuring they continue to have the creative freedom that will allow their lists to flourish. Following the announcement of our wonderful new trade office in Bloomsbury, we’re also looking forward to having a new base in Scotland in the beautiful capital city of Edinburgh.”

Campbell Brown said: “We’re absolutely delighted that Black & White is joining the Bonnier family. After one of our best ever years, Alison and I are very much looking forward to working with Perminder and her fantastic team. They’ve built a reputation as a dynamic, forward-thinking publishing business and their lists have gone from strength to strength in recent years. Together, we’ll be building on our strong recent successes and are excited about the future. With some brilliant new books planned for the rest of this year and beyond, this new chapter will be hugely beneficial for Black & White, for our team and, most importantly, for our current and future authors.”

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