Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Rights and acquisitions >

Making the deal: The state of rights sales in the UK 

Wednesday, 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...

‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’ to be adapted for TV

Friday, 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...

HarperCollins signs Blackwood in two-book deal 

Thursday, 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

Wednesday, 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 

Wednesday, 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...

Debut novel ‘Half Moon Lake’ sold to US

Monday, 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

Friday, 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...

PRH sells Stevenson crime-thriller debut in US and UK

Monday, 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...

Third O’Neill title sold to UK’s Lightning Books

Tuesday, 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

Thursday, 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’...

MUP acquires Hanson-Young book on slut-shaming

Wednesday, 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...

McLean’s debut mystery novel sold in four territories

Tuesday, 11 September 2018
Australian author Felicity McLean’s forthcoming debut novel The Van Apfel Girls are Gone (HarperCollins, April 2019) has been sold in four territories, including to Algonquin Books in North America and...

Clan Destine Press acquires Ngaio Marsh winner 

Friday, 7 September 2018
Clan Destine Press has acquired world (ex NZ) rights to Australian-born New Zealand-based author Jennifer Lane's debut novel All Our Secrets (Rosa Mira Books NZ). All Our Secrets recently won the...

Ford’s ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ optioned for TV

Wednesday, 5 September 2018
Clementine Ford's forthcoming Boys Will Be Boys: An Exploration of Power, Patriarchy and the Toxic Bonds of Mateship (Allen & Unwin, October) has been optioned for television by Perth-based production company Metamorflix. Rights were...

‘Birth of the Plantagenets’ series optioned for screen

Tuesday, 4 September 2018
Five historical novels in Blanche d'Alpuget's ‘Birth of the Plantagenets’ series (Ventura) have been optioned for television/film by Ironbark Media. Rights were sold via Jeanne Ryckmans at the Cameron Creswell...

UQP acquires Mundell’s second novel

Thursday, 23 August 2018
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to The Trespassers, the second novel by Melbourne-based author Meg Mundell. Martin Shaw from Alex Adsett Publishing Services sold rights...