Hachette Australia is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Wednesday Weeks, a funny (truly, actually funny), pacy fantasy adventure series that combines real-life science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with classic fantasy elements by authors Denis Knight and Cristy Burne. Launching in 2021, the first book Wednesday Weeks and the Tower of Shadows features smart, brave powerhouse protagonist Wednesday Weeks, her best friend Alfie, a wisecracking skull, a power-hungry goblin king, mostly-good fairies, hot pink slugs and a race against time. What’s not to love?

Hachette Australia Head of Children’s Publishing Jeanmarie Morosin said, ‘Wednesday Weeks is the perfect mash-up of science and magic and I am beyond excited to be publishing this dynamite series. Rarely has a series so perfectly matched with my sense of humour and my desire to publish smart, funny, not-always-perfect female protagonists. I truly can’t wait to welcome young readers into the rollicking world of Wednesday Weeks.

About the book:

In a world of magic, can science save the day?

Wednesday Weeks never wanted to be a sorcerer’s apprentice. She’d rather study science than magic. But when her cloak-wearing, staff-wielding grandpa is captured by a power-hungry goblin king, Wednesday must find a way to embrace her magical heritage and rescue him from the dreaded Tower of Shadows.

Luckily, she’s not alone. Her best friend Alfie is a prime-number fan and robotics expert who’s all-in on Wednesday’s epic plan involving parallel universes, swords of power, and a wise-cracking talking skull.

But it’s going to take more than science, magic, and the world’s cutest robot to take down this bad guy. Because the goblin king is playing for the ultimate prize—and Wednesday and Alfie just walked into his trap…

About the authors:

Science fiction and fantasy author Denis Knight is a computer programmer who grew up geeking out about the works of JRR Tolkien, Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. He graduated from high school in the same year as Marty McFly, and he is still waiting to receive his first hoverboard. His favourite foods are lasagna and donuts, and his favourite eighties TV show is Monkey. He lives in Western Australia with his wife, his two children, and his extensive collection of The X-Files DVDs.

Children’s author and science writer Cristy Burne has worked as a science communicator across Australia, Japan, Switzerland, the UK, US, South Africa and beyond. She has performed in a science circus, worked as a garbage analyst, and was a reporter at CERN when they turned on the Large Hadron Collider. Cristy loves blending STEM and creativity to enthuse, engage and empower. Her non-fiction title Zeroes and Ones (Brio Books, 2018) showcases the geeks, heroes and hackers who changed computing history and was a 2019 CBCA Notable Book.