HarperCollins Children’s Books celebrates 10 years of David Walliams

HarperCollins Children’s Books is marking a decade of titles from David Walliams with a week of retail, school and press activity.

The inaugural Walliams Week will run from June 25 to July 1 and will see the nation’s number one children’s author celebrated in classrooms with 25,000 activity packs distributed to UK primary schools.

Meanwhile, at retail, Waterstones, WHSmith and independent stores will host a series of events with retailer packs to get fans of Walliams’ characters in store.

The celebrations mark another record year for Walliams whose global sales now exceed 25 million copies of books published in 53 languages.

Outside of publishing, The World of David Walliams brand continues to grow. HarperCollins Children’s Books appointed CPLG in 2016 to develop the brand’s licensing programme, using the iconic illustrations by Quentin Blake and Tony Ross to bring to life in products characters from titles such as Gangsta Granny, Mr Stink and The Boy in the Dress.

Smiffys leads the dress-up sector, while Cooneen handles nightwear, Paul Lamond Games has puzzles and Lagoon has card games. Winning Moves and Kinnerton complete the line-up with Top Trumps and confectionery hitting shelves this September.

John Taylor, commercial director at CPLG UK, said: “We have seen a fantastic initial launch and we are looking to grow the retail footprint and engage more with the huge fan base throughout this year.

“We are also keen to expand on the licensees we are working with and close the gaps on some key categories still available.”

Alison Ruane, brand strategy director, HarperCollins Children’s Books, added: “As part of our growth strategy for The World of David Walliams, it was an obvious next step to extend ‘beyond the book’ into licensing and merchandise, and we are delighted to be working with CPLG to do just that.”

About Robert Hutchins

Robert Hutchins is the editor of Licensing.biz and ToyNews. Hutchins has worked his way up from Staff Writer to the position of Editor across the two titles, having spent some six years with both ToyNews and Licensing.biz, and what now seems like a lifetime surrounded by toys. You can contact him by emailing robert.hutchins@bizmedia.co.uk or calling him on 0203 143 8780 You can even follow him on Twitter @RobHutchins3 if ranting is your thing...

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