Rights and acquisitions | Books+Publishing

Screen rights to ‘The Nowhere Child’ acquired

Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Australian production company Carver Films and US-based production company Anonymous Content have acquired screen rights to Christian White’s debut thriller The Nowhere Child (Affirm). Carver Films is known for producing...

PRH acquires ‘Fixed It’ book by Gilmore

Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired rights to a nonfiction book by Melbourne-based writer, commentator and journalist Jane Gilmore. Titled Fixed It: One Woman's Movement Against the Real Fake...

Vogel winner ‘The Yellow House’ optioned for film

Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Emily O’Grady’s debut crime novel The Yellow House (Allen & Unwin) has been optioned for film by independent producers Lucy Hayes and John Tummino. Hayes, who is currently developing the...

Scribe acquires US nonfiction titles by Stack, Villarosa

Tuesday, 21 August 2018
Scribe has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to two nonfiction books by American authors Megan Stack and Linda Villarosa, reports BookBrunch. Stack's book, Women's Work: A Reckoning with Home and...

Finch Publishing to close; S&S acquires Biddulph

Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Finch Publishing has announced it will cease publishing in late December this year and owner Rex Finch will retire. The publisher, which is best known for its parenting books, celebrated its...

PRH sells UK rights to McIntosh novels in two-book deal

Tuesday, 14 August 2018
Penguin Random House (PRH) has sold UK rights to Fiona McIntosh's books The Pearl Thief and The Diamond Hunter to Ebury, a division of Penguin Random House UK. PRH senior rights manager Nerrilee...

Transit Lounge acquires new fiction by Salom, de Saint Phalle

Tuesday, 14 August 2018
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to new novels by Philip Salom and Catherine de Saint Phalle. Salom's new novel, The Returns, is set in North Melbourne and tells the...

‘The Choke’ sold to UK, Europe, Commonwealth

Monday, 6 August 2018
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has sold UK, Europe and Commonwealth (excluding ANZ) rights to Sofie Laguna’s The Choke to London-based Gallic Books, reports the Bookseller. A&U rights associate Maggie Thompson...

Thorne’s ‘The Hating Game’ to be adapted for film; ‘The Simpsons’ producer attached

Monday, 6 August 2018
The Simpsons producer David Mirkin will direct a film adaptation of Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game (Piatkus), reports Deadline. Mirkin’s directing credits include Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and Heartbreakers. He...

Kidman secures film, TV rights to Moriarty’s ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’

Wednesday, 1 August 2018
Nicole Kidman’s production company Blossom Films and Australian producer Bruna Papandrea's Made Up Stories have purchased film and television rights to Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers (Macmillan), reports the Sydney...

PRH NZ sells basketballer’s memoir to US

Wednesday, 1 August 2018
Penguin Random House New Zealand (PRH NZ) has sold North American rights to My Life, My Fight by New Zealand basketball player Steven Adams to Hachette Books in the US. ...

HarperCollins to publish Thai cave rescue book in December

Tuesday, 31 July 2018
HarperCollins Australia has acquired world rights to a Thai cave rescue book by ABC Southeast Asia correspondent Liam Cochrane. Cochrane, who is based in Bangkok, reported on the rescue effort...

Text acquires debuts from Bishop, McPhee-Browne

Friday, 27 July 2018
Text Publishing has acquired two fiction debuts from Melbourne-based writers. Text acquired world rights to Alice Bishop’s debut short-story collection, A Constant Hum, which explores the Black Saturday bushfires and...

Lothian acquires two books in YA fantasy series by Kostakis

Thursday, 26 July 2018
Lothian head of children’s publishing Jeanmarie Morosin has acquired ANZ/UK rights to two books in a fantasy series by Australian YA author Will Kostakis, via Sarah Williams at Sophie Hicks...

Greer’s ‘On Rape’ sold to Bloomsbury UK

Thursday, 26 July 2018
Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) has sold UK and Irish rights to Germaine Greer’s On Rape to Bloomsbury UK. Bloomsbury won the rights at auction after 12 UK publishers reviewed the submission....

A&U to publish Thai cave rescue book in October

Tuesday, 24 July 2018
Allen & Unwin has acquired world rights to The Great Cave Rescue: The Extraordinary Story of the Thai Boy Soccer Team Trapped in a Cave for 18 Days by journalist...

‘Scrublands’ optioned for TV

Monday, 23 July 2018
Chris Hammer’s crime-fiction debut Scrublands (Allen & Unwin) has been optioned for television by producers Ian Collie of Easy Tiger and Martha Coleman of RevLover, via Grace Heifetz at Curtis...

HarperCollins signs Treasure for two-book deal

Wednesday, 18 July 2018
HarperCollins has acquired world rights to White Horses by commercial fiction author Rachael Treasure in a two-book deal, via Margaret Connolly at Margaret Connolly and Associates. White Horses tells the...

NLA Publishing acquires ‘shadow play’ picture book

Wednesday, 18 July 2018
NLA Publishing has acquired world rights to picture book Hiding Moon, written by Emma Allen and illustrated by Sher Rill Ng. Publisher Susan Hall acquired rights directly from Allen, while...

Affirm Press acquires Fiona Hardy’s debut middle-grade novel ‘Rosebud’

Wednesday, 18 July 2018
Affirm Press has acquired ANZ rights to debut middle-grade novel Rosebud by Readings bookseller Fiona Hardy. Rights were negotiated by agent Danielle Binks of Jacinta di Mase Management. Due to be published...

NewSouth to publish official history of Australian operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor

Wednesday, 18 July 2018
The Australian War Memorial (AWM) has awarded a tender to NewSouth Publishing to publish The Official History of Australian Operations in Iraq & Afghanistan and Australian Peacekeeping Operations in East...

Scribble sells North American rights to ‘Under the Love Umbrella’

Wednesday, 18 July 2018
Scribe’s children’s imprint, Scribble, has sold North American rights to Under the Love Umbrella (Davina Bell, illus by Allison Colpoys) to Simply Read Books. Rights to the title have previously...

Castagna’s ‘No More Boats’ sold into North America

Tuesday, 17 July 2018
Giramondo has sold North American rights to Felicity Castagna’s No More Boats to Europa Editions editor-in-chief Michael Reynolds in a pre-empt, via Rach Crawford at literary agency MacKenzie Wolf. The Miles Franklin-shortlisted...