UQP sells UK and Commonwealth rights to “Dead Ink”

University of Queensland Press (UQP) has sold UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada and ANZ) rights to Jordan Prosser’s Blue Giant to Dead Ink Books.

According to the publisher, Blue Giant follows Abby Horne navigating her 30s as “adulthood and anonymity” weigh her down. After a drunken night, she decides to claim fame by being the first human on Mars – and a tech billionaire has just advertised for the position.

Based in Naarm/Melbourne, Prosser is an author and filmmaker whose writing has appeared in Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, the Guardian, the Age and Australian Book Review. His short story “Eleuterio Cabrera’s Beautiful Game” won the Peter Carey Short Story Award in 2022. His debut novel Big Time (UQP, 2024) won the ABIA Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year and the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

Prosser said, “Last year I watched the UK release of my first book, Big Time, unfold from halfway across the world. I was amazed the whole time by the resourcefulness, playfulness, and overall reach of the entire campaign. […] I’m anxious and excited for UK readers to meet Abby Horne – and thrilled to be once again working with such a fine independent publisher.”

Dead Ink Books commissioning editor Harriet Hirshman said, “I was astonished and delighted by Jordan Prosser’s debut novel Big Time and I’m so pleased that his new novel is as propulsive and distinct. Blue Giant brings us into the mind of Abby Horne, a truly unique individual.

“Abby is a deeply flawed bundle of manic potential, and whether she’s overflowing with yearning or being unapologetically problematic, she’s impossible to look away from. Anyone who has ever pondered their place in the vast universe will see themselves in these gleaming pages.”

Dead Ink Books plans to publish Blue Giant in September 2026.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions