Text Publishing acquires “What Gentlemen Do” by Todd Babiak

Text has acquired ANZ rights to adult fiction What Gentlemen Do by Todd Babiak from Carolyn Buszynski at CookeMcDermid Agency in Canada.

The “uplifting and outrageously funny story of a young man on the brink who uses the wisdom of ancient philosophy to save himself and his town” is a “wry story about identity, place and adolescence in the digital age”, according to the publisher.

Babiak is a dual Canadian and Australian citizen who now lives in Queensland. He is an author and co-founder of the Canadian agency Story Engine. Among his previous novels, The Spirits Up was published by the Penguin Random House–owned publisher McClelland & Stewart in Canada and the United States, where What Gentlemen Do is scheduled for publication this month.

Senior editor Mandy Brett said of What Gentlemen Do: “Such a sweet book. Funny, sad, wise … Also very timely in terms of modern masculinity.”

Text plans to publish What Gentlemen Do in December.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions