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Elle McNicoll

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Elle McNicoll
McNicoll, in Waterstones, Kensington, 2024
McNicoll, in Waterstones, Kensington, 2024
BornElle McNicoll
5 October 1992
Scotland
OccupationChildren's Author, screenwriter
LanguageEnglish
Alma materUniversity College London
Years active2020-present
Notable worksA Kind of Spark
Show Us Who You Are
Notable awards2021 Waterstones Children's Book Prize
2021 Blue Peter Book Award

Elle McNicoll (born 5 October 1992) is a Scottish children's literature writer. She has been described as "undoubtedly an outstanding new talent in children's books [who] will inspire readers young and old for generations to come".[1]

Early life

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McNicoll was born and raised in Scotland.[2] She earned a master's degree in publishing from University College London in 2019, with her dissertation being on why children’s publishing needs more neurodiversity.[3]

Biography

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McNicoll's debut novel, A Kind of Spark (2020), follows the efforts of an autistic[4] eleven-year-old girl, Addie, to establish a memorial to the witch trials in her Scottish hometown. McNicoll is autistic herself.[5] The book was children's book of the week in The Times and The Sunday Times,[6][7] and won both the Overall and Younger Fiction prizes at the 2021 Waterstones Children's Book Prize.[8] It also won the Blue Peter Book Award for Best Story, voted for by children.[9] McNicoll was nominated for the Branford Boase Award[10] and the Carnegie Medal. Her debut was named Overall Book of the Year by Blackwell's, beating titles in the Adult Market.[11] McNicoll was awarded an honour by the Schneider Family Book Award in 2022 for the US edition of A Kind of Spark. It was listed as number 75 in The 100 Greatest Children's Books of All Time by the BBC.[12]

Her second novel, Show Us Who You Are, was published in March, 2021, and was Children's Book of the Week in The Times.[13] It was also the Children's Book of the Month, as chosen by Blackwell's.[14] It was nominated for Best Children's Fiction in the 2021 Books Are My Bag Awards, and McNicoll was also nominated for Best Breakthrough Author.[15]

Her third novel, Like a Charm, was published in February 2022 by Knights Of and was also Children's Book of the Week in The Times,[16] as well as being reviewed as "another fiercely gripping, superbly original story" by The Guardian.[17] In 2022 McNicoll also wrote a story as part of the crime anthology The Very Merry Murder Club[18] edited by Serena Patel and Robin Stevens.

A Kind of Spark was optioned for a television series from CBBC, with McNicoll acting as co-head writer on the programme.[19] It premiered on BBC iPlayer in the UK on 31 March 2023.[20] In 2023, Macmillan won a five-publisher auction for the rights to two of McNicoll's young adult novels, Some Like it Cold (2024) and a novel to published in 2025.[21][22]

McNicoll also wrote and recorded an essay for BBC Radio 3's The Essay.[23] The subject was Nora Ephron, a heroine of McNicoll's.

Keedie, the prequel to A Kind of Spark, was published in 2024. In an episode of In the Reading Corner, Nicoll talked about her nuanced exploration of teenage bullying and the stereotyping of neurodivergent characters.[2]

She lives in London.[24]

Advocacy

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McNicoll has been an outspoken advocate for better representations of neurodiversity in publishing.[25] She has been credited with kickstarting a revolution in publishers' attitudes to neurodiverse characters.[26] In 2022, McNicoll established The Adrien Prize, a prize for traditionally published children's books with a disabled lead character.[27] The longlist for The Adrien Prize 2022 was announced on twitter and included: The Night the Moon Went Out by Samantha Baines, The Secret of Haven Point by Lisette Auton, A Flash of Fireflies by Aisha Bushby, Wilder Than Midnight by Cerrie Burnell, The Great Fox Illusion by Justyn Edwards and The Extraordinary Adventures of Alice Tonks by Emily Kenny.[28]

Works

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Novel

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  • —— (2020). A Kind of Spark. London: Knights Of.
  • —— (2021). Show Us Who You Are. London: Knights Of.
  • —— (2022). Like a Charm. London: Knights Of.
  • —— (2023). Like a Curse. London: Knights Of.
  • —— (2024). Keedie. Knights Of.
  • —— (2024). Some Like It Cold. Wednesday Books.
  • —— (2024). Matilda and the Naughty List, Charlie and the Christmas Factory. Puffin Books.

Scripts

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  • A Kind of Spark. 2023.

References

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  1. ^ "Waterstones prize winner Elle McNicoll: 'I never saw autistic girls in books'". TheGuardian.com. July 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Elle McNicoll: Keedie - Just Imagine". Just Imagine - In The Reading Corner podcast. 22 June 2024. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  3. ^ UCL (2 May 2023). "Award-winning book by UCL alumna made into TV series". UCL Alumni. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  4. ^ McNicoll, Elle (6 July 2020). ""I write about anything and everything, but I always write about neurodiversity": Elle McNicoll on being a neurodivergent author". BookTrust. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  5. ^ McNicoll, Elle. "Stories from the Spectrum: Elle McNicoll". National Autistic Society. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  6. ^ Alex O'Connell, Children's Book of the Week: A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll, The Times, 6 June 2020. Accessed 7 June 2020.
  7. ^ Nicolette Jones, Children's book of the week: A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll, Sunday Times, 7 June 2020. Accessed 7 June 2020.
  8. ^ "'A Kind of Spark' wins Waterstones Children's Book Prize". Books+Publishing. 2 July 2021. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Blue Peter Book Awards 2022".
  10. ^ "Getten, McNicoll, Mann and Pearson feature on Branford Boase shortlist | the Bookseller".
  11. ^ "McNicoll bags Blackwell's Book of the Year | the Bookseller".
  12. ^ "The 100 greatest children's books of all time". www.bbc.com.
  13. ^ O'Connell, Alex. "Show Us Who You Are by Elle McNicoll review — tween boy-meets-girl love story meets sci-fi horror".
  14. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Blackwell's Children's Book of the Month, March 2021 - Show Us Who You Are. YouTube.
  15. ^ "Rashford, Sethi and McAnulty on Books Are My Bag Readers Awards shortlists".
  16. ^ O'Connell, Alex. "Like a Charm by Elle McNicoll review — a wildly imaginative world of secrets and spells". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  17. ^ "Children's and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels". the Guardian. 25 February 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  18. ^ "I Will Be Writing a Neurodivergent Detective Story for Crime Anthology | Blog | Elle McNicoll". I Will Be Writing a Neurodivergent Detective Story for Crime Anthology | Blog | Elle McNicoll. 16 May 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  19. ^ "BBC orders 'A Kind Of Spark' adaptation from Canada's 9 Story Media". TBI Vision. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  20. ^ "A Kind of Spark to premiere on BBC iPlayer, CBBC, BYUtv and CBC!". 24 March 2023.
  21. ^ Brown, Lauren (10 February 2023). "Macmillan Children's Books triumphs in five-way auction for award-winning McNicoll's YA debut". The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  22. ^ Hill, Amelia (14 June 2023). "Books with neurodivergent characters mark new chapter for publishers". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  23. ^ "BBC Radio 3 - Schedules, 25 September - 1 October 2023".
  24. ^ "Sessions Details". www.londonbookfair.co.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  25. ^ "Elle McNicoll on being a neurodivergent author | BookTrust".
  26. ^ Hill, Amelia (14 June 2023). "Books with neurodivergent characters mark new chapter for publishers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  27. ^ "Prizes for disabled writers: Four awards celebrating disability". The Bookseller. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  28. ^ "The Adrien Prize". Twitter. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
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