Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Internationally published refugee memoir to be adapted for film

Thursday, 19 March 2020
Behrouz Boochani’s multi-award-winning memoir No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison (trans by Omid Tofighian, Picador)—an account of the Iranian refugee’s incarceration on Manus Island by the Australian...

Affirm acquires new picture book from Godwin, Lester

Thursday, 19 March 2020
Children’s/YA acquisitions        Affirm Press has acquired the rights to Sing Me the Summer (November), a new picture book from bestselling children’s book creators Jane Godwin and Alison Lester (pictured), which...

Marchetta’s Printz-winning YA novel to be adapted for TV

Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Melina Marchetta’s 2006 YA novel On the Jellicoe Road (Penguin Australia)—which was published in the US by HarperCollins and awarded a Printz Award for excellence in YA literature—is being adapted...

Hardie Grant, UQP acquire books from Indigenous experts

Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Nonfiction acquisitions Hardie Grant Travel has acquired world rights to Fire Country, a memoir from Indigenous fire practitioner Victor Steffensen, and has fast-tracked publication for mid-February 2020. Steffensen said, ‘With...

Sara Foster’s suspense thrillers sold into US, UK

Thursday, 14 November 2019
Curtis Brown Australia has sold North American and UK and Commonwealth rights (ex ANZ and Canada) to two novels by bestselling psychological suspense author Sara Foster—The Hidden Hours and her...

‘The Yield’ sells to US, France

Thursday, 10 October 2019
Penguin Random House Australia has sold world English-language rights (ex ANZ) to Tara June Winch’s novel The Yield to HarperCollins US imprint HarperVia, and French-language rights to Actes Sud. President...

‘Axiomatic’ sold to UK’s Fitzcarraldo Editions

Friday, 9 August 2019
Small press Brow Books has sold UK and Commonwealth rights (ex ANZ) to Maria Tumarkin’s Axiomatic—‘a boundary-shifting fusion of thinking, storytelling, reportage and meditation’—to independent publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions. The deal follows the...

Krien’s debut novel ‘Act of Grace’ sold to UK

Thursday, 11 July 2019
Black Inc. has sold UK and Commonwealth rights (ex ANZ and Canada) to accomplished nonfiction author Anna Krien’s forthcoming debut novel Act of Grace to Serpent’s Tail. Acquiring editor Hannah...

Stella Prize-winning memoir sold to US, Canada

Friday, 14 June 2019
US and Canadian rights to the Stella Prize-winning memoir The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie (Fourth Estate) have sold to Knopf and Doubleday Canada, respectively. The Erratics follows two daughters who return home to Canada...

Oz crime debut sold to UK publisher in two-book deal

Friday, 15 March 2019
Australian crime-fiction continues its globetrotting ways. UK publisher Verve Books has recently acquired world rights to the Debut Dagger-shortlisted crime novel Trust Me, I’m Dead and a second novel by...

Tumarkin’s prize-winning ‘Axiomatic’ sold to US

Thursday, 14 February 2019
Brow Books has sold North American and Spanish-language rights to Maria Tumarkin’s prize-winning nonfiction book Axiomatic—a ‘boundary-shifting fusion of thinking, storytelling, reportage and meditation’—to Transit Books and Editorial Minúscula, respectively....

Debut novel ‘Half Moon Lake’ sold to US, Canada

Thursday, 15 November 2018
US and Canadian rights to Kirsten Alexander’s debut novel Half Moon Lake (Penguin Random House Australia, January 2019) have been sold to Hachette Book Group’s Grand Central imprint. The novel...

Book-to-screen

Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Australian producer Bruna Papandrea’s company Made Up Stories—best known for co-producing the TV adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies—has acquired screen rights to Holly Ringland’s bestselling debut novel The...

Third O’Neill title sold to UK’s Lightning Books

Thursday, 11 October 2018
UK publisher Lightning Books has acquired UK and Commonwealth (ex ANZ) rights to Ryan O’Neill’s 2012 debut short story collection The Weight of a Human Heart (Black Inc.)—the third title...

Book-to-screen

Thursday, 11 October 2018
Synchronicity Films will adapt Heather Morris’ bestselling novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Echo Publishing) as a television drama miniseries. The miniseries is planned to be broadcast in January 2020 to...

More love for Nanette

Thursday, 13 September 2018
International rights are being snapped up for Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby’s forthcoming memoir Ten Steps to Nanette (Allen & Unwin) after the Netflix special based on Gadsby’s stand-up comedy show went...

Book-to-screen

Thursday, 13 September 2018
Australian production company Carver Films and US production company Anonymous Content have acquired screen rights to Christian White’s debut thriller The Nowhere Child (Affirm Press). White’s novel, which recently broke...

Book-to-screen rights sales

Tuesday, 14 August 2018
Nicole Kidman’s production company Blossom Films and Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories have purchased film and television rights to Liane Moriarty’s forthcoming novel Nine Perfect Strangers (Macmillan). Kidman will produce...

‘No More Boats’ to publish in the US

Tuesday, 14 August 2018
Sydney-based small press Giramondo has sold North American rights to Felicity Castagna’s Miles Franklin-shortlisted novel No More Boats to Europa Editions. Acquiring editor-in-chief Michael Reynolds said the novel—which tells the...

PRH acquires ‘No Spin’ by Shane Warne

Friday, 15 June 2018
Penguin Random House (PRH) will publish Australian cricketer Shane Warne’s memoir No Spin in Australia and the UK. The publisher said the memoir will cover the bowler’s ‘extraordinary cricketing career and...

Controversial delayed China book finds publisher

Thursday, 8 February 2018
Hardie Grant Books has acquired world rights to Clive Hamilton’s book on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence in Australia. Silent Invasion explores how CCP agencies have sought to extend...