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

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. Transit Books publisher Adam Levy said of Axiomatic: ‘This kind of hybrid nonfiction is a form that we at Transit Books love so much—but it’s true that it has become widespread and increasingly formulaic in its rule-breaking. What’s so exciting to us about Tumarkin’s project is that it feels like it blows open the hybrid form all over again.’

Transit Lounge has sold world English-language rights (ex ANZ) to Lois Murphy’s literary thriller Soon to UK publisher Titan Books in a two-book deal. Titan’s Sam Matthews said he was excited by the prospect of building Murphy’s name in the UK and the US. ‘Titan is known for excellent literary horror and Soon will sit well alongside others on our list,’ he said.

Echo Publishing has sold North American rights to Meg Keneally’s forthcoming historical novel Fled—based on the life of ‘legendary’ convict Mary Bryant—to Arcade Publishing. Echo acquired world rights to Keneally’s first solo novel (the author has co-written several books with her father Tom Keneally) in a two-book deal.

NewSouth has sold North American rights to Australian academic Eleanor Gordon-Smith’s forthcoming nonfiction debut Stop Being Reasonable to PublicAffairs, after previously selling UK rights to the book to Scribe. Stop Being Reasonable looks at how people change their minds and the strategies they employ to change the minds of others, and stems from Gordon-Smith’s appearance on US podcast This American Life.

Acquisitions

HarperCollins has acquired world rights to Catherine McKinnon’s historical novel The Great Time, which follows a number of characters in the lead-up to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan in World War II, and is prompted by McKinnon’s own family history.

Scribe has acquired world rights to a memoir about ‘faith, feminist spirituality, and a search for meaning’ by writer and critic Louise Omer. Holy Woman explores Omer’s past as a Pentecostal preacher, her loss of faith after the dissolution of her marriage, and her questioning of what it means to be female in a religion that worships a male god.

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Category: Think Australian rights