Rights round-up

Sales

Fiction—Hachette has sold Czech rights to The Secret Recipe for Second Chances (J D Barrett). HarperCollins has sold German rights to The Pretty Delicious Café (Danielle Hawkins) to Bastei Lubbe AG; film rights to White Head Hunter (Hector Holthouse) to Rogue State and Redrum Film; North American rights and simplified Chinese-language rights to Sixty Seconds (Jesse Blackadder) to St Martin’s Press and Xiron Publishing, respectively; and Spanish rights to Hotel du Barry (Lesley Truffle) to HarperCollins Iberica/HarperCollins Mexico. Lyn Tranter at Australian Literary Management has sold world rights to a two-book fantasy series (Black Oak Cottage and Bandit Girl) by Jo Spurrier to HarperCollins; and an as-yet-untitled historical fiction novel by Lucy Devenish to Simon & Schuster. Pantera has sold German rights to Hot Pursuit (Rebecca Freeborn) to Heyne. Text has sold French rights to Flames (Robbie Arnott) to Actes Sud.

Nonfiction—Hachette has sold UK & Irish rights to The Puberty Book Sixth Edition (Kelsey Powell & Wendy Darvill) to Gill Books. HarperCollins has sold Russian rights to Before Your Teenagers Drive You Crazy, Read This and Mothers Raising Sons (both Nigel Latta) to Ripol Classic Publishing Group; simplified Chinese-language rights to Frank Lowy: A Second Life (Jill Margo) to Citic Publishing Group; simplified Chinese-language rights to Ghost Empire (Richard Fidler) to Yeean, W E Time DigiTech Ltd; and film rights to Mrs Kelly (Grantlee Kieza) to Fremantle Media.

Children’s—Allen & Unwin has sold North American rights to The Sloth Who Came to Stay (Margaret Wild, illus by Vivienne To) to Abrams; Italian rights to Do Not Lick This Book (Idan Ben-Barak & Julian Frost) to Fabbri; Romanian and Russian rights to Nim’s Island, Nim at Sea and Rescue on Nim’s Island (all Wendy Orr) to Meteor Press and Atticus Group, respectively; North American rights to How to Bee (Bren MacDibble) to Groundwood; and UK rights to A Different Dog (Paul Jennings) to Old Barn Books. Hardie Grant Egmont has sold Norwegian rights to the first two books in the ‘Polly and Buster’ series (Sally Rippin); Brazilian rights to the first three books in the ‘Polly and Buster’ series (Sally Rippin); Brazilian rights to the first three books in ‘The Witching Hours’ series (Jack Henseleit); Spanish rights to Billie B Mystery: Spooky House (Sally Rippin); and French Canadian rights to Penelope Perfect: Quiz Questions and Complicated Crushes and Penelope Perfect: The Green-Eyed Monster (both Chrissie Perry). HarperCollins has sold UK rights to the ‘Ruby Red Shoes’ series (Kate Knapp) to Macmillan Children’s Books; Lithuanian rights to The Amazing True Story of How Babies Are Made (Fiona Katauskas) to Alma Littera; Turkish rights to Fearless: Sons and Daughter (Colin Thompson & Sarah Davis) to Arkadas; and ANZ audio rights to The Funny Kid for President and Funny Kid Stand Up (both Matt Stanton) to Bolinda. Scholastic has sold US rights to Boy (Phil Cummings & Shane Devries); French rights to The Vanishing: 48 Hours Book One (Gabrielle Lord); Dutch rights to two books in the ‘Countdown to Danger’ series (Bullet Train Disaster and Shockwave, Jack Heath); Brazilian Portuguese rights to books one-to-four in the ‘Pixel Raiders’ series (Bajo + Hex, illus by Chris Kennett); Danish rights to The Bad Guys Episode 1 and The Bad Guys Episode 2 (both Aaron Blabey); simplified Chinese-language rights to How I Love You Daddy (Anna Pignataro); and simplified Chinese-language rights to Ride Ricardo Ride (Phil Cummings & Shane Devries). Text has sold Spanish rights to The Extremely Weird Thing that Happened in Huggabie Falls to Duomo.

Acquisitions

Fiction—Allen & Unwin has acquired ANZ and non-exclusive English-language rights in Asia to Parvana: A Graphic Novel (published in Canada as The Breadwinner, Deborah Ellis) from Groundwood Books.

Nonfiction—Text has acquired UK & Commonwealth (ex Canada) rights to Curry (Naben Ruthnum); and UK & Commonwealth (ex Canada) rights to Chemistry (Weike Wang).

Children’s—Allen & Unwin has acquired world rights to Grandpa, Did You Know? (Kate Simpson, illus by Ronojoy Ghosh) via Curtis Brown; world rights to One Runaway Rabbit (David Metzenthen, illus by Mairead Murphy); and ANZ and English-language rights in Oceania to the first three books in ‘Super Life of Ben Braver’ series (Marcus Emerson) from Writers House. Walker Books Australia has acquired world rights to the following titles: The Mulberry Tree (Allison Rushby); DUCK! (Meg McKinlay, illus by Nathaniel Eckstrom); The Happiness Box (Mark Greenwood, illus by Andrew McLean); Unpacking Harper Holt (Di Walker); I Am Hattie Raven (Susan Green); Beware the Deep, Dark Forest (Sue Whiting, illus by Annie White); Maddie’s First Day (Penny Matthews, illus by Liz Anelli); Under the Southern Cross (Frané Lessac); Elizabella Meets Her Match and Elizabella and the Great Tuck Shop Takeover (both Zoe Norton Lodge); The First Adventures of Princess Peony and The Second Adventures of Princess Peony (Nette Hilton illus by Lucinda Gifford); and The Anger of Angels (Sherryl Jordan).

Audio—Wavesound has acquired ANZ audio rights to the following titles: Scrublands (Chris Hammer) in a two-book deal via Curtis Brown; The Right Girl (Ellie O’Neill) via Jacinta di Mase Management; The Paris Seamstress, (Natasha Lester) from Hachette; and This I Could Kill For (Anne Buist) from Text; world audio rights to the following titles: Suddenly One Summer (Fleur McDonald) via the Naher Agency; The Lace Weaver (Lauren Chater) from Simon & Schuster; and The Unexpected Education of Emily Dean (Mira Robertson) from Black Inc.; and the following Garry Disher titles: Under the Cold Bright Lights (world audio), Bitter Wash Road (world audio ex North America), Dragon Man (world audio), Kitty Hawk Down (world audio), Whispering Death (world audio), Blood Moon (world audio ex NA), Chain of Evidence (world audio ex NA), Snapshot (world audio ex NA) and Signal (world ex NA).

For more rights news, sign up to Books+Publishing’s Think Australian newsletters here.

Category: Rights round-up