Berbay sells board book series to US, UK
22 January 2019
Berbay Publishing has sold North American and UK rights to a series of three board books by Tokyo-based illustrator Chihiro Takeuchi. Catherine Drayton from InkWell Management sold North American and...
Two Garth Nix novels to A&U; US and UK rights sold
22 January 2019
Allen & Unwin has acquired ANZ rights to two new fantasy novels by Garth Nix, with US and UK rights also selling in a two-book deal. Angel Mage, a high...
‘Oliver’s Grumbles’ sold into China in small press’ first overseas rights sale
17 January 2019
Queensland-based small press Yellow Brick Books (YBB) has sold Chinese and Korean rights to Oliver’s Grumbles (Yvonne Mes, illus by Giuseppe Poli) in the emerging publisher’s first overseas rights deal. Negotiated by...
Alex Adsett agency lands multi-territory book deal for debut picture book
16 January 2019
Alex Adsett Literary Agency has sold rights in multiple territories to the debut picture book by Brisbane-based graphic designer Robert Hendersen. I See, I See is described as an immersive, hands-on...
Berbay sells three Canty picture books in China
16 January 2019
Berbay Publishing has sold simplified Chinese rights to three picture books in John Canty’s ‘Heads and Tails’ series to Dook. The series—comprising Heads and Tails, Heads and Tails Insects and...
Echo sells Meg Keneally’s solo debut to US
15 January 2019
Echo Publishing has sold North American rights to Meg Keneally’s debut historical novel Fled to Arcade Publishing. The novel, which is based on the life of convict Mary Bryant, is...
HarperCollins acquires McKinnon’s second novel
11 December 2018
HarperCollins has acquired world rights to Catherine McKinnon’s second novel, The Great Time, via Jeanne Ryckmans at the Cameron Creswell Agency. Set during World War II, The Great Time follows...
NewSouth sells Gordon-Smith debut to US, UK
6 December 2018
NewSouth has sold North American rights to Australian academic Eleanor Gordon-Smith’s forthcoming debut Stop Being Reasonable to PublicAffairs. The nonfiction book (previously titled What Makes You So Sure You’re Not...
Rights People to represent Affirm Press kids list
5 December 2018
Affirm Press has engaged international agency Rights People to represent its kids list. Affirm sales and marketing director Keiran Rogers says he is anticipating more international rights sales as a...
PRH sells ‘Kensy and Max’ series to US in four-book deal
4 December 2018
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has sold North American rights to Jacqueline Harvey’s children’s book series ‘Kensy and Max’ to Kane Miller Publishers. The four-book deal was brokered by Rights...
Findlay to edit ‘Growing Up Disabled in Australia’
3 December 2018
Blogger and appearance activist Carly Findlay will edit the forthcoming anthology Growing Up Disabled in Australia, to be published by Black Inc. in 2020. Black Inc. is seeking first-person submissions that...
Big Sky sells UK rights to ‘Frederick Whirlpool VC’
30 November 2018
Big Sky Publishing has sold UK rights to Alan Leek's history book Frederick Whirlpool VC to UK military history publisher Pen & Sword. Leek's book tells the true story of Frederick...
Berbay acquires middle-grade series by Louise Park
28 November 2018
Berbay Publishing has acquired world rights to a three-book middle-grade fiction series by Australian children's author Louise Park. The first book in the series, titled Grace's Castle, is a fast-paced time-slip adventure...
Scribe acquires Louise Omer memoir ‘Holy Woman’
28 November 2018
Scribe has acquired world rights to a memoir about 'faith, feminist spirituality, and a search for meaning' by writer and critic Louise Omer, via Jane Novak of Jane Novak Literary...
Children’s book boom: Alice Grundy on the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair
21 November 2018
As part of the Shanghai Visiting International Publishers Project, Brio Books associate publisher Alice Grundy travelled to China to attend the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair (9-11 November). She...
‘The Women in Black’ sells in multiple territories after translation rights made available after 12 years
21 November 2018
Text Publishing has sold rights in multiple territories to Madeleine St John’s The Women in Black, alongside several other books by St John, after translation rights were made available for...
Riwoe sells third Heloise Chancey novel to UK’s Legend Press
21 November 2018
Brisbane-based author Mirandi Riwoe has sold world rights to her historical crime fiction novel The Death of Me to UK publisher Legend Press. Rights were acquired by Legend commissioning editor Lauren...
Harry Cook’s debut YA novel acquired by Scottish small press
19 November 2018
Scottish independent publisher Black & White Publishing has acquired world rights to the debut novel by Australian actor and LGBTQIA+ activist Harry Cook. A romance set in small-town Australia, Fin...
Ventura sells ‘A Superior Spectre’ to the UK
14 November 2018
Ventura Press has sold UK rights to Angela Meyer’s debut novel A Superior Spectre to Scottish publisher Saraband. Publisher Sara Hunt acquired rights at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair via UK-based agency Abner...
A&U sells ‘The Mummy Bloggers’ to UK, Europe, India in two-book deal
14 November 2018
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has sold English-language rights in the UK, Europe and India to The Mummy Bloggers (Holly Wainwright) to Legend Press in a two-book deal. A Sydney-based journalist...
Scribe sells Giggs’ ‘Fathoms’ to US in record deal
14 November 2018
Scribe has sold North American rights at auction to Rebecca Giggs’ forthcoming Fathoms: The World in the Whale to Simon & Schuster (S&S), in what publisher Henry Rosenbloom describes as...
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...
