Rights and acquisitions | Books+Publishing

Scholastic acquires two books by Rove McManus

Monday, 24 June 2019
Scholastic Australia has acquired world rights to two children’s books by TV personality Rove McManus. Scholastic will publish the picture book Disgusting McGrossface in September and Rocky Lobstar, the first...

A&U acquires rights to International Man Booker winner ‘Celestial Bodies’

Friday, 21 June 2019
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Jokha Alharthi’s Celestial Bodies, winner of the 2019 International Man Booker Prize, from Claire Roberts at Claire Roberts Global Literary Mangement,...

Naher, Heifetz announce new literary agency

Friday, 21 June 2019
Agents Gaby Naher of The Naher Agency and Grace Heifetz of Curtis Brown Australia have partnered to form a new literary agency called Left Bank Literary. Launching on 1 July...

Paramount acquires film rights to McKinty’s ‘The Chain’

Thursday, 20 June 2019
Paramount Pictures has acquired the film rights to Adrian McKinty’s forthcoming novel The Chain (Hachette, July), reports Deadline. Paramount executive Alex Jackson acquired the rights via Shane Salerno from The...

Hachette acquires 2017 Richell Prize winner ‘State Highway One’

Wednesday, 19 June 2019
Hachette Australia has acquired ANZ rights to Sam Coley’s State Highway One, via Grace Heifetz at Curtis Brown. Coley’s entry of the same name won the 2017 Richell Prize for...

Scholastic acquires ‘Hunger Games’ prequel

Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Scholastic has acquired world English rights to a new novel by Suzanne Collins set in the 'Hunger Games' universe. The yet to be titled prequel, known as Untitled Panem Novel,...

A&U UK to publish Hardcastle’s ‘Below Deck’ in UK

Monday, 17 June 2019
Allen & Unwin’s UK arm (A&U UK) has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding ANZ and Canada) to Below Deck, the third book by 25-year-old author Sophie Hardcastle, reports the...

Tim Flannery children’s book sells to US, Canada

Monday, 17 June 2019
Catherine Drayton at InkWell Management has sold US and Canadian rights to writer and environmentalist Tim Flannery's forthcoming children's book Explore Your World: Weird, wild, amazing! (illus by Sam Caldwell)....

Transit Lounge acquires new novel from Krauth

Thursday, 13 June 2019
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to Kirsten Krauth's new novel Almost a Mirror in a deal brokered by Jo Butler. Recently shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize, Almost a...

Netflix to adapt ‘Thelma the Unicorn’ for animated musical feature

Wednesday, 12 June 2019
Aaron Blabey’s picture book Thelma the Unicorn (Scholastic) will be adapted into an animated musical film by Netflix. The project will be adapted by husband-and-wife filmmakers Jared and Jerusha Hess...

S&S acquires global rights to two new Kathy Reichs novels

Wednesday, 5 June 2019
Simon & Schuster (S&S) has acquired global rights to two new novels by bestselling crime fiction writer Kathy Reichs. The first novel, A Conspiracy of Bones and Blood, will be...

YA debut ‘What I Like About Me’ sold to US and France

Wednesday, 5 June 2019
Jacinta di Mase Management has sold US and Canadian rights to Jenna Guillaume’s YA debut What I Like About Me (Pan) to Peachtree Publishing, and French-language rights to Pocket Jeunesse....

Berbay sells third Canty ‘Heads and Tails’ picture book to US

Tuesday, 4 June 2019
Berbay Publishing has sold North American rights to Melbourne author and illustrator John Canty’s Heads and Tails: Underwater to Candlewick Press. This is the third picture book in Canty’s ‘Heads and Tails’...

Hachette signs international deal for three new ‘Nevermoor’ books; details for book 3 announced

Friday, 31 May 2019
Rights to three new books in Jessica Townsend’s ‘Nevermoor’ series have been jointly acquired by Hachette Australia, Hachette Children’s Group UK and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in the...

Screen rights to Nix’s ‘The Keys to the Kingdom’ series sold

Thursday, 30 May 2019
Herschend Entertainment Studios has acquired film and television rights to Garth Nix’s seven-book fantasy series ‘The Keys to the Kingdom’ (A&U), reports Deadline. Jill Grinberg Literary Management sold rights on behalf...

Scribe acquires new Allington novel

Wednesday, 29 May 2019
Scribe has acquired world rights to Rise and Shine, a novel by Adelaide writer Patrick Allington. According to the publisher, the book is 'a Kafkaesque fable of hope about a future where eight...

‘Half the Perfect World’ to be adapted for film

Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Cascade Films has acquired the film adaptation rights to Paul Genoni and Tanya Dalziell’s Half the Perfect World: Writers, Dreamers and Drifters on Hydra, 1955–1964 (Monash University Publishing). Half the...

‘Boy Swallows Universe’ to be adapted for stage in 2020

Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Queensland Theatre has acquired the stage adaptation rights to Trent Dalton’s bestselling Boy Swallow Universe (Fourth Estate). The adaptation will be produced in partnership with the Brisbane Festival and premiere...

Affirm acquires debut thriller; UK, US rights also sold

Monday, 27 May 2019
Affirm Press has acquired ANZ rights to author Anna Downes’ debut thriller The Safe Place in a two-book deal, with US and UK & Commonwealth rights to the title already...

‘Boy Swallows Universe’ to be adapted for TV

Thursday, 23 May 2019
Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe (Fourth Estate) will be adapted as an international television drama, reports Deadline Hollywood. Screen rights to Dalton’s bestselling debut, negotiated on behalf of HarperCollins Australia,...