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Claire McFall

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Scottish Book Award-winner and international bestseller Claire McFall's work is, in essence, all about first love and difficult decisions. Globally-speaking, Claire is also perhaps one of the most influential writers you've never heard of in the world.

Her novels take straightforward romantic narratives and hurl them into unusual and extreme settings, blurring accepted genre boundaries and creating new sub-genres of her own. She then charts her characters' reactions to these unfamiliar situations and the new and confusing feelings that beset them in a hyper-real, engaging, deeply poignant and literary manner.

Claire is a teacher and lives in the Scottish Borders with her husband and son. You can find her on Twitter - @mcfall_claire
In January 2018, The BIA was delighted to confirm that the FERRYMAN series was optioned at the highest tier imaginable by Hollywood studio, Legendary Entertainment. Since then we have agreed rights deals, subject to contract, in 16 languages and territories to date, with a slew more considering and still to come.

As of the end of 2017 FERRYMAN has sold  over 1.8 MILLION copies in China and continues to sell apace, remaining in the Chinese Top 10 Open Book General Fiction charts every week for well over two years to date. The sequel TRESPASSERS was published simultaneously in the summer of 2017 in both China and the UK and leapt straight into the number 3 spot in the Chinese Open Book chart - that's general fiction, not kids - while FERRYMAN remained at Number 6, so that's two simultaneous Top 10 rankings. Already named one of the most influential writers of teen fiction in Scotland, Claire was also named one of the Top 10 most influential writers in China for 2016.

FERRYMAN also won The Scottish Book Award and was also:
  • Long-listed for The Branford Boase Award
  • Nominated for The Carnegie Medal
  • Short-listed for the Grampian Book Award
  • Long-listed for the UKLA's YA Book of the Year Award
  • Short-listed for the inaugural Hampshire Independent Schools Book Award

Selected praise for FERRYMAN:
"Touching, often funny and sometimes harrowing... [McFall has] imagined The 39 Steps crossed with The Lord of the Rings... Tristan must disappear from Dylan's death-life once he has delivered her across the Styx-like black lake, but Dylan decides to tear up the rulebook with turbulent results." Guardian

"Powerful, slightly tranquil, delicate and almost needs its own genre to describe it. [FERRYMAN] is a novel that flows well and is one that I am certain will stick with me for many years to come." Goodreads

And from Amazon readers:
“Stunning and original”
“A nuanced coming of age story in a unique setting”
“Incredible and delicate”
“Haunting and awe-inspiring”

Selected praise for BOMBMAKER (Feb 2014):
"I couldn't put it down ... 5 stars ... kept me on the edge of my seat" Guardian

BOMBMAKER was selected as one of Telegraph Books YA Books of 2014 and long-listed for the Grampian Book Award

BLACK CAIRN POINT was published in 2015
, with the The Scotsman singling Claire out as  "one of the most fearless voices for YA fiction in Scotland", which they described as "expertly handled ... never less than gripping, constantly surprising, and with a truly shocking finale". It went on to sell over 250,000 copies worlDwide and netted Claire her second Scottish Teen Book Award in 2016.

RIGHTS SOLD:

FERRYMAN:
Turkish -
Yapi Kredi Yayinlari
Simplified Chinese - Beijing White Horse
Complex Chinese - Yuan Liou

TRESPASSERS:
Simplified Chinese - Beijing White Horse

BOMBMAKER:
Rights available

BLACK CAIRN POINT:
Simplified Chinese - Tianjin

RIGHTS HELD BY THE BIA

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