Children's & YA
'Keedie' by Elle McNicoll
About
Elle McNicoll is a neurodivergent editor, writer and former bookseller who is passionate about authentic neurodiverse representation and #OwnVoices storytelling in fiction, particularly children’s books.
She wrote her debut novel, A Kind of Spark for her eleven-year-old self, and found the courage to finish it after her own Masters dissertation research found that only 0.05% of protagonists in children’s books are neurodivergent.
Since the publication of her debut novel, Elle has taken the middle-grade world by storm with four further novels - Show Us Who You Are, Like a Charm, Like a Curse, and Keedie. A live action TV adaptation of A Kind of Spark is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer, which Elle worked closely on with BBC Children's and 9 Story Media. A second series is currently in production.
In 2022 Elle founded The Adrien Prize to recognise and celebrate children's fiction that explores the disability experience.
What we did
EDPR launched neurodivergent author Elle McNicoll's groundbreaking debut novel A Kind of Spark in 2020, transforming her into an award-winning voice for authentic representation in children's literature. Reaching both neurodiverse and neurotypical readers to ensure learning and discussion was key to our approach and children’s literacy sites, and autistic charities were targeted to support the book, including the National Autistic Society, Autistic & Unapologetic and Autistic Girls Network. The Reader Teacher’s #PrimarySchoolBookClub and a 10-date blog tour successfully tapped into the online community of teachers and librarians. One of the most high-profile debut children’s launches of 2020 A Kind of Spark was Children's Book of the Week in both The Times and Sunday Times. The campaign culminated in two prestigious awards, a BBC TV adaptation, and established Elle as one of the most high-profile new authors in the UK.
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