A&U acquires second Kitty Flanagan book
13 November 2018
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ and Oceania rights (including audio) to 488 Rules for Life by comedian Kitty Flanagan. A spoof of Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life...
A&U sells ‘The Museum of Modern Love’ to UK
8 November 2018
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has sold UK rights to Heather Rose’s The Museum of Modern Love to Weidenfeld & Nicolson, a division of Orion Publishing. A&U rights associate Maggie Thompson...
Robotham’s ‘The Secrets She Keeps’ to be adapted for TV
5 November 2018
Michael Robotham’s thriller The Secrets She Keeps (Hachette) will be adapted into a six-part television miniseries, reports If. Premiering on Channel 10 in 2019, the series will be produced by...
Fashion designer Dinnigan to create two books for Berbay
2 November 2018
Berbay Publishing has acquired world rights in a two-book deal to picture books by fashion designer Collette Dinnigan. Dinnigan said: 'I spend more time now reading children's books having a six-year-old...
S&S acquires Archie Roach memoir
2 November 2018
Simon & Schuster (S&S) has acquired world rights to a yet-to-be-titled memoir by singer-songwriter Archie Roach. Roach, who is part of the Stolen Generations, is also known as a campaigner...
PRH acquires Smethurst’s ‘The Freedom Circus’
30 October 2018
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired world rights at auction to The Freedom Circus by Sue Smethurst. The Freedom Circus is a nonfiction account of Smethurst’s husband’s grandparents, Holocaust...
‘Real Pigeons’ series sold to US in three-book deal
29 October 2018
Hardie Grant Egmont (HGE) has sold North American rights to three books in the ‘Real Pigeons’ series (Andrew McDonald, illus by Ben Wood) to Random House Children’s Books, following a...
Fremantle sells world English rights to Sally Morgan board book ‘I Love Me’
25 October 2018
Fremantle Press has sold world English-language rights to Sally Morgan’s board book I Love Me (illus by Ambelin Kwaymullina) to Andrews McMeel Publishing, part of Andrews McMeel Universal (AMU), in...
Making the deal: The state of rights sales in the UK
24 October 2018
While the UK remains a tough market for Australian publishers to break into, UK indies are showing an interest in Australian voices, reports Catherine Moller. Several Australian independent publishers have had...
Affirm acquires middle-grade debut at auction; opens unsolicited submissions for kids list
18 October 2018
Affirm Press has acquired middle-grade novel Hattie Maxwell and the Library of Lost Words by debut Melbourne author Julianne Negri at auction via Jacinta di Mase Management. The story follows...
Opening Scene initiative introduces writers to screen producers
16 October 2018
The Wheeler Centre and the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) have launched a three-year program to introduce writers to screen producers. The Opening Scene program will connect The Next Chapter...
‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’ to be adapted for TV
12 October 2018
Australian producer Bruna Papandrea’s company Made Up Stories has acquired screen rights to Holly Ringland’s debut novel The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Fourth Estate), and will develop the project...
Aussie children’s book creators chosen to pitch at global kids entertainment event
12 October 2018
Australian children’s book creators Yves Stening and Nigel Buchanan are one of five intellectual property owners selected to pitch at the world's biggest children's entertainment industry event, MIPJunior. Held on...
HarperCollins signs Blackwood in two-book deal
11 October 2018
HarperCollins has signed a two-book deal with children's book illustrator Freya Blackwood. The first book in the deal is a yet-to-be-titled picture book about a girl and her pig, due...
Winton’s ‘The Riders’ to be adapted for film
10 October 2018
Tim Winton’s The Riders (Penguin) will be adapted into a feature film produced by director Ridley Scott’s production company Scott Free, reports Deadline Hollywood. A director for the film is...
NZ picture book on Trump sold to UK
10 October 2018
New Zealand publisher Millwood Press has sold UK, Irish and Australian rights to picture book Dear Donald Trump (Sophie Siers, illus by Anne Villeneuve) to Bonnier Books UK imprint Templar...
Hardie Grant acquires book based on podcast ‘The Full Catastrophe’
8 October 2018
Hardie Grant Books has acquired world rights to The Full Catastrophe, based on the podcast of the same name, via Jeanne Ryckmans at Cameron Cresswell Agency. Edited by podcast hosts...
Debut novel ‘Half Moon Lake’ sold to US
8 October 2018
US and Canadian rights to Kirsten Alexander’s debut novel Half Moon Lake (Bantam, January 2019) have been acquired by Grand Central, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. Natasha Solomun of...
Transit Lounge acquires new fiction by Savage, Bird
5 October 2018
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to new novels by Angela Savage and Carmel Bird. Savage’s fourth novel, Mother of Pearl, is set in Thailand and Australia, and centres on...
UQP acquires Riwoe’s historical novel ‘On Gold Mountain’
4 October 2018
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to historical novel On Gold Mountain by Brisbane-based writer Mirandi Riwoe. Set on the goldfields of north Queensland during the...
PRH acquires Ronnie Scott’s ‘The Adversary’ in two-book deal
3 October 2018
Penguin Random House (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to Ronnie Scott’s debut novel The Adversary in a two-book deal. PRH acquired rights at auction to The Adversary and a second...
Brow Books signs Grills in two-book deal; Ord’s ‘diary comic’ to publish in February
2 October 2018
Brow Books has acquired world rights to big beautiful female theory by writer and artist Eloise Grills as part of a two-book deal. Described as ‘a book-length narrative essay combining...
PRH sells Stevenson crime-thriller debut in US and UK
1 October 2018
Penguin Random House (PRH) has sold North American and UK (ex ANZ) rights to debut crime-thriller Greenlight (Michael Joseph) by Sydney-based author Benjamin Stevenson. PRH senior rights manager Nerrilee Weir...
Giramondo acquires McGregor’s ‘photoessay memoir’ on ‘Indelible Ink’
26 September 2018
Giramondo has acquired world rights to a ‘photoessay memoir’ called A Novel Idea by Sydney author and performance artist Fiona McGregor, via Jane Novak of Jane Novak Literary Agency. A...
Third O’Neill title sold to UK’s Lightning Books
25 September 2018
UK publisher Lightning Books has acquired UK and Commonwealth (excluding ANZ) rights to Ryan O’Neill’s 2012 debut short story collection The Weight of a Human Heart, reports Book Brunch. Lightning...
‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ to be adapted as TV miniseries
20 September 2018
Synchronicity Films will adapt Heather Morris’ The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Echo) as a television drama miniseries. The project is currently in development, with Australian writer-producer Jacquelin Perske to adapt Morris’...
‘Ottilie Colter’ sells for ‘record’ sum in three-book German deal
19 September 2018
Hardie Grant Egmont has sold German-language rights to Rhiannon Williams’ Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt, plus two further books by Williams, to Random House Germany imprint cbj Verlag, after a...
NZ author Chidgey’s ‘The Beat of the Pendulum’ sold to UK
19 September 2018
UK imprint Lightning Books has acquired New Zealand author Catherine Chidgey's 2017 novel The Beat of the Pendulum (Victoria University Press), reports the Bookseller. Caroline Dawnay at United Agents sold UK...
MUP acquires Hanson-Young book on slut-shaming
19 September 2018
Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) has acquired ANZ rights to En Garde by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young. ‘Senator Sarah Hanson-Young’s private life became a matter of public interest when she was...
Australian publishers report interest in parenting, children’s titles in Beijing
12 September 2018
Independent Australian publishers attending the Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF), running from 22-26 August, have reported interest in the categories of children's, parenting, and education. Ventura Press director Jane Curry...
