Text acquires Macarthur biography

Text has acquired world rights to a biography of Anglo-Australian settler and pioneer Elizabeth Macarthur by writer Michelle Scott Tucker in a two-book deal negotiated by Jacinta Di Mase Management.

The book will explore the life of Elizabeth Macarthur in colonial Australia, her relationship with her husband John Macarthur and her contributions to their family’s agricultural business and the beginnings of the Australian wool industry.

The manuscript attracted offers from seven publishers, with Tucker and her agent Jacinta Di Mase ultimately negotiating a deal with Text.

Author Tucker told Books+Publishing the deal was ‘very much a line-ball decision’. ‘I chose Text because they asked smart questions and clearly want to take the manuscript in the same direction I want it to go,’ said Tucker, who also said Text’s proposal to publish a YA edition of the biography was a factor. ‘Now I “just” have to finish the MS and embark on the editorial process—looking forward to it.’

Di Mase attributes the significant interest to ‘a thirst for more stories that feature women and Indigenous people’ and ‘the vibrancy of the publishing industry and the importance publishers place on books that tell our foundation stories’.

The biography is scheduled for release in 2018.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions