RIGHTS SALES
APRIL 2024
Finnish rights to Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce mystery novel #11, WHAT TIME THE SEXTON'S SPADE DOTH RUST, have been sold again to Bazar Kustannus Oy by Trine Licht of Licht & Burr Literary Agency on behalf of The Bukowski Agency. Rights were previously sold in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, and Italy. Publication in the US, UK, and Canada is scheduled for September 2024.
JANUARY 2024
Bestselling Giller Prize winner Ian Williams (REPRODUCTION) has sold Canadian English-language rights to his second novel, YOU’VE CHANGED, a hilarious traffic jam of emotion about a marriage in crisis complicated by race and gender that features high comedy, deep humiliation, and excruciating uncertainty and makes you ask what the hell marriage is anyway, again to Anne Collins of Random House Canada for publication in fall 2025.
OCTOBER 2023
In a good deal, Anne Collins of Random House Canada has picked up Canadian English rights to award-winning Indigenous author (All the Quiet Places) Brian Thomas Isaac’s second novel BONES OF A GIANT, in which an isolated teenager must learn to live without his missing brother and find his own community, plus one more novel, for publication in 2025.
In a very nice deal, Anne Collins of Random House Canada has picked up Canadian English rights to bestselling author (the Trickster Trilogy, Monkey Beach) Eden Robinson’s THE SORCERESS OF GAYOUYALA, an adult, literary fantasy novel in which a desperate young woman seeks power from a Sorceress to help protect her village from Raiders, who are attempting to colonize the Alliance of Six Rivers. Based on the cultures of the Pacific Northwest, The Sorceress is set on a terraformed world, a clone of the Earth on the edge of the Milky Way, where the creatures of mythological time live with descendants of clones, for publication in 2025.
SEPTEMBER 2023
Italian rights to Alan Bradley's eleventh installment of the bestselling Flavia de Luce mystery series, WHAT TIME THE SEXTON'S SPADE DOTH RUST, again to Sellerio, by Luisa Rovetta at Grandi & Associati. Canadian English rights sold previously to Doubleday Canada, US rights to Bantam Books, German rights to Blanvalet, and UK rights to Orion.
AUGUST 2023
North American French rights to Waubgeshig Rice’s MOON OF THE TURNING LEAVES, the stand-alone sequel to the 2018 bestseller Moon of the Crusted Snow, have gone to Stéphane Cormier at Prise de Parole. The deal was done by Megan Husain at Anna Jarota Agency. Canadian English rights sold previously to Random House, US rights to Morrow, German rights to Klaus Wagenbach, and French rights outside Canada to Les Arènes.
MAY 2023
Becky Alexander at Dorling Kindersley UK has commissioned a book tentatively titled TODDLERS MADE EASY from Dr. Cathryn Tobin, based on her @healthiest_baby Instagram account, which has one million followers, and on her on-line courses. The manuscript will be delivered in January 2024 and is scheduled for October 2024 publication. The deal was done by Euan Thorneycroft of A. M. Heath (world rights).
Dr. Cathryn Tobin is a distinguished pediatrician, trained midwife, author, and mother of four, based in Markham, Ontario. She has more than twenty-five years of experience in the field, and carries out more than 14,000 office consultations each year in her private practice -- and loves every minute of it. Dr. Tobin trained at the largest children's hospital in the world, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. She is the author of The Lull-A-Baby Sleep Plan (Rodale, 2006), and has been cited in, amongst others, the New York Times, Washington Post, Family Circle, Parents, Parenting, Child, and Today's Parent Magazine.
Stéphane Cormier of Éditions Prise de parole in Sudbury, Ontario, publisher of the French-Canadian edition of Maria Campbell’s classic 1973 memoir HALFBREED, has sold European French-language rights to Editions Dépaysage in Paris.
World Spanish rights to the first two novels in Alan Bradley’s bestselling Flavia de Luce mystery series, THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE and THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN’S BAG, have been sold to independent publisher Alma, in a two-book deal, by Julia Garrigós at The Foreign Office. The series was previously published by Planeta. A film project based on the first novel is currently at the Cannes film market this week.
An option to create a dramatic feature film based on Maria Campbell’s 1973 memoir HALFBREED has been picked up by Métis director Berkley Brady’s production company, Nika Productions Inc., based in Calgary. The book was updated and re-released in a revised edition in North America in 2019 by McClelland and Stewart, and published in French, Spanish, and Catalan.
Professor of Indigenous Literature Warren Cariou's TELLINGS: AN AUDIO ORIGINAL SERIES OF INDIGENOUS ORAL STORIES, unscripted storytelling performances that will include traditional narratives, teachings, historical accounts, personal histories and songs, presented as if listeners were seated around a kitchen table, to Publisher Stephanie Sinclair at McClelland and Stewart (PRH Canada), for publication in spring 2025.
Warren Cariou's WHERE THE VOICE IS COMING FROM: INDIGENOUS VOICES IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD, introducing the artistry and profound teachings of contemporary Indigenous oral stories, showing how they arise out of relationships and how they act to build our connections to each other and to the world around us, and arguing that these stories teach us how to be human, how to relate to our relatives in a good way, and how to live respectfully on the land, to Publisher Stephanie Sinclair at McClelland and Stewart (PRH Canada), for publication in spring 2025.
APRIL 2023
UK/ Commonwealth rights ex-Canada to Alan Bradley's WHAT TIME THE SEXTON'S SPADE DOTH RUST to Emad Akhtar at Orion, in a two-book deal, by Bill Hamilton at A.M. Heath.
Canadian English rights sold previously to Doubleday Canada, US rights to Bantam Books, and German rights to Blanvalet.
MARCH 2023
French rights ex-North America to Waubgeshig Rice’s MOON OF THE TURNING LEAVES, the stand-alone sequel to the 2018 bestseller Moon of the Crusted Snow, have gone again to Les Arenes. The deal was done by Megan Husain at Anna Jarota Agency. Canadian English rights sold previously to Random House, US rights to Morrow, and German rights to Klaus Wagenbach.
Blanvalet has again acquired German rights to two new installments in Alan Bradley’s bestselling Flavia de Luce mystery series: #11, WHAT TIME THE SEXTON’S SPADE DOTH RUST, and an untitled sequel. Blanvalet will publish the two new novels in hardcover format under the Penhaligon list in Fall 2024 and Fall 2025. They are also in the process of relaunching the entire series of ten previous books in paperback with new covers. US rights to the two new books were sold previously again to Bantam Books and Canadian rights again to Doubleday. The German deal was done by Annelie Geissler of Mohrbooks on behalf of Denise Bukowski of The Bukowski Agency.
German rights to Waubgeshig Rice’s MOON OF THE TURNING LEAVES, the sequel to the 2018 bestseller Moon of the Crusted Snow, have gone again to Verlag Klaus Wagenbach GmbH . The new novel is set ten years after the events that forced a northern Indigenous community to retreat into the bush and resume their traditional lifestyle in Moon of the Crusted Snow. Canadian rights sold previously to Random House, who will publish in October 2023, and US rights went to Morrow, who will publish in early 2024. The German deal was done by Marie Arendt at Mohrbooks.
FEBRUARY 2023
French-Canadian rights to the Canadian bestseller TRICKSTER DRIFT by Eden Robinson, the second book in her Trickster Trilogy, have gone again to Martin Balthazar at Groupe Ville Marie Littérature. The deal was done by Megan Husain of Anna Jarota Agency on behalf of The Bukowski Agency. The first volume, SON OF A TRICKSTER, will be published in French in Canada on March 30.
JANUARY 2023
Publisher Amy Black at Doubleday Canada has acquired Canadian rights to two new installments in Alan Bradley’s bestselling Flavia de Luce mystery series: #11, WHAT TIME THE SEXTON’S SPADE DOTH RUST, and an untitled sequel. US rights previously sold to Bantam Books. The new books clarify what really happened to Flavia’s parents. The deals were done by Denise Bukowski of The Bukowski Agency based on a proposal. Congratulations, Alan!
After a four-year hiatus, New York Times best-selling author Alan Bradley has sold a proposal for two more titles in his ten-volume Flavia de Luce mystery series again to Anne Speyer at Bantam, in a good deal.
In WHAT TIME THE SEXTON’S SPADE DOTH RUST, Flavia de Luce Mystery #11 (manuscript due September 2023), a former public hangman with stomach-curdling deeds in his past has been found dead, killed by ingesting poisonous mushrooms. Loose threads from books 1-10 are pulled together, leading Flavia to discover the stunning truth about what really happened to her dead father—the greatest shock of her life.
Mystery #12 (manuscript due September 2024) reveals details about Flavia’s father’s involvement with the shadowy Nide, the infamous ultra-secret espionage organization that operated during World War II and was complicit in her mother’s mountain-top death. Flavia’s discoveries pave the way for future investigations.
Rights to the series originally sold in 39 territories. For further information on the series, see: The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley
DECEMBER 2022
Italian rights to RED FOX ROAD author Frances Greenslade’s second middle-grade novel GREEN MOUNTAIN ACADEMY, a sequel about a young girl with highly developed outdoor survival skills that this time allow her to help rescue people in a downed plane in a blizzard, have gone again to Roberto Keller at Keller Editore. The deal was done by Luisa Rovetta of Grandi & Associati on behalf of Denise Bukowski at The Bukowski Agency. The novel was released in North America by Penguin Random House Canada in September.
Merry Christmas, Francie!
NOVEMBER 2022
Everbook, an independent publisher founded in 2012, has picked up World Russian rights to Thomas Wharton’s forthcoming novel, THE BOOK OF RAIN, which will be released in English in Canada by Random House in March 2023. Click on the link for a description of their new fiction imprint, The House of Stories. The deal was done by Katya Ilina of The Van Lear Agency on behalf of The Bukowski Agency. Rights to The Book of Rain have previously been sold in France and French-Canada.
OCTOBER 2022
Felicia Mihali, Chairwoman of the Montreal publisher Editions Hashtag, has picked up French-Canadian rights to Métis writer Lisa Bird-Wilson’s novel PROBABLY RUBY, published by Hogarth in the USA and Doubleday in Canada, from Rachel Kind at Random House USA. Editions Hashtag will release the book in fall 2023.
Founded in 2018, Editions Hashtag publishes a culturally diverse list that includes Blair Stonechild, Kamal Al-Solaylee, Josip Novakovich, and David Demchuk.
JUNE 2022
FILM RIGHTS: Paolo Barzman of Cassidy Films and Darin Wong have picked up an option on film rights to Wayson Choy’s award-winning novel of a young Chinese immigrant coming of age in Vancouver in the 1930s and 40s, All that Matters. For further information, see ALL THAT MATTERS by Wayson Choy and IMDb.
AUDIO RIGHTS: Penguin Random House Canada has acquired World English-language Audio rights to Indigenous actor and writer Darrell Dennis’s 2014 book Peace Pipe Dreams: The Truth about Lies about Indians, to be released in fall 2022, with the author reading the text. For further information, see: PEACE PIPE DREAMS.
FEBRUARY 2022
Valentin Baillehache of Editions Payot & Rivages has picked up World French rights ex-North America to Thomas Wharton’s forthcoming novel, THE BOOK OF RAIN, which will be released in English in Canada by Random House in spring 2023. Editions Alto will publish the French-Canadian edition simultaneously.
Baillehache says about the book:“I was bewitched by this elliptical narrative in which the tropes of SF and speculative fiction retain their mystery. And what mysteries! We come out of it intoxicated as after a paranormal poetic experience. I think that this novel can reach a wide audience, SF readers as well as those who like to read speculative fiction without knowing it, and that it would find its place perfectly in our catalogue alongside STATION ELEVEN. THE BOOK OF RAIN will be ideal as part of the new Rivages/ imaginaire collection.”
The deal was done by Celia Long of The Anna Jarota Agency on behalf of The Bukowski Agency.
DECEMBER 2021
In a very happy Christmas gift for two authors, French-Canadian rights for their novels were sold just before the holidays.
After an auction, French-Canadian rights to the bestseller SON OF A TRICKSTER by Eden Robinson have gone to Martin Balthazar at Groupe Ville Marie Littérature.
In a pre-empt, Antoine Tanguay of Editions Alto has picked up French-Canadian rights to Thomas Wharton’s forthcoming novel, THE BOOK OF RAIN, which is to be released in English in Canada by Random House in spring 2023. Alto plans to publish later the same year.
Both deals were done by Celia Long of Anna Jarota Agency.
Congratulations, Eden and Tom!
AUGUST 2021
Knopf Canada Publisher Martha Kanya-Forstner has acquired Canadian English-language rights to Magpie Dreams, Lisa Bird-Wilson’s investigation of her history as an Indigenous child adopted by non-Indigenous parents, to be released in fall 2026.
Two excerpts from this memoir appeared in the latest issue of Brick magazine, and one in The Globe and Mail. A fourth excerpt will appear in the Globe later this month, simultaneously with the Canadian release of Bird-Wilson’s debut novel, PROBABLY RUBY. The novel will be released in the USA by Hogarth Press in April 2022.
Kanya-Forstner says of Magpie Dreams:“Lisa’s is a story of being claimed and named, of seeing herself in the faces of her Indigenous relations, of hearing herself in their voices. It is a story of reconnection. I am inspired by Lisa’s astute and sensitive use of the documentary record, the uncovering of secrets and meaning in the state administration of her life and the lives of her ancestors going back generations. The pieces of the memoir I have read so far are remarkable for their insight and the clarity and beauty of their prose. When it is complete, Magpie Dreams will live and breathe at the intersection of a broader cultural narrative of dispossession, a history of systemic racism and family destruction, and an intimate story of discovery. It is certain to be an extraordinary piece of literature and a profound contribution to our understanding of the Sixties Scoop, the experiences of Indigenous parents and children caught in its policy clutches, and the journey towards the reclamation of ancestry, identity, family, and belonging.”
MAY 2021
Canadian English-language rights to Rogers Prize-winning author of MYSTERIOUS FRAGRANCE OF THE YELLOW MOUNTAINS Yasuko Thanh’s second novel TO THE BRIDGE, about a woman whose teenage daughter has attempted suicide, have gone again to Penguin Canada Publisher Nicole Winstanley for publication under the Hamish Hamilton imprint in spring 2023.
APRIL 2021
US rights to award-winning author of the novel REPRODUCTION Ian Williams’ non-fiction book on race inspired by James Baldwin, DISORIENTATION: BEING BLACK IN THE WORLD, have been sold again to Michael Reynolds at Europa by Denise Bukowski at The Bukowski Agency. Previously Canadian rights went again to Anne Collins at Random House (publishing 9/21) and Italian rights again to Roberto Keller at Keller Editore.
Icefields author Thomas Wharton has sold Canadian rights to his first adult novel in twenty years, THE BOOK OF RAIN, to Executive Editor Anne Collins at Random House Canada, who called it a “hugely ambitious, multi-layered, and profound novel.” The Book of Rain is an environmental literary suspense novel set in the near future, in a mining community where a new ore’s strange properties create anomalous effects in the town known as “decoherences” that disrupt the lives and health of the locals and gradually destroy their environment. A young man who grew up there returns to search for his sister, who has disappeared into the forbidden toxic zone to rescue the animals there. Random House editorial assistant Lauren Park described the book best:
“It’s the kind of novel that readers will dive into multiple times over, a true modern classic. It lives up to the comparisons to Cloud Atlas and The Overstory, but is totally its own thing, too. And in some of its most affecting moments, it still manages to be playful and funny. It has the enduring resonance of a fable—it ends with an epic of Gilgamesh for our times. And once the reader is able to grasp all its meanings, the title plays perfectly into that experience of timelessness (some tears were shed in the Random House work from home environments). The Book of Rain is a novel that changes the reader for life, and will surely convert new activists. It’s simply impossible to read to the last page without feeling a huge swell of appreciation for the disappearing biodiversity on this home we share and a renewed conviction for ecological stewardship.”
THE BOOK OF RAIN will be released in Canada in spring 2023.
MARCH 2021
French-Canadian rights to Eden Robinson’s bestselling novel SON OF A TRICKSTER, about an indigenous teenager who is tormented by hostile spirits and family drama, have gone to Martin Balthazar at Groupe Ville Marie Littérature via Celia Long at the Anna Jarota Agency on behalf of Denise Bukowski at The Bukowski Agency.
Italian rights to award-winning author of the novel REPRODUCTION Ian Williams' non-fiction book on race, DISORIENTATION: BEING BLACK IN THE WORLD, have been sold again to Roberto Keller at Keller Editore by Laura Grandi of Grandi & Associati on behalf of The Bukowski Agency.
Polish rights to Book 10 in the Flavia de Luce mystery series, THE GOLDEN TRESSES OF THE DEAD, by Alan Bradley have gone again to Wydawnictwo Vesper, bringing the total number of territories for this title to eight. The deal was done by Paula Machnik of Graal on behalf of The Bukowski Agency.
FEBRUARY 2021
World rights ex-Canada to Lisa Bird-Wilson’s forthcoming novel PROBABLY RUBY (Doubleday Canada, August 2021), about an adopted woman’s search for her Indigenous roots in the vein of Tommy Orange and Terese Marie Mailhot, have been sold to Random House editor David Ebershoff for publication under the Hogarth Books imprint in 2022.
In an exclusive submission in a pre-empt, Jaime Levine of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt picked up US rights to Waubgeshig Rice’s forthcoming novel MOON OF THE TURNING LEAVES, the sequel to the 2018 bestseller MOON OF THE CRUSTED SNOW, based on an outline and her enthusiasm for the previous novel. MOON OF THE TURNING LEAVES is set ten years after the events that forced a northern Indigenous community to retreat into the bush and resume their traditional lifestyle in Moon of the Crusted Snow. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish the new novel simultaneously with Random House Canada in 2022.
