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
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
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]
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]
