Fantasy fiction for children

Fantasy fiction, once scorned by the literati, is the new big thing in publishing, says Nicholas Clee in The Independent.

Worldwide sales of countless millions of Harry Potter novels by that one-time struggling writer, JK Rowling, have persuaded publishers to revise their opinions. Now they are throwing the kinds of advances once associated with high-concept thrillers or chick-lit at children's novels, particularly ones with elements of fantasy. Film companies are responding to the trend, and the media are suddenly taking an interest in authors who, a few years ago, would have been regarded by most journalists as entirely uninteresting.