People & Publishing Roundup, March 2021
VAJRA CHANDRASEKERA is now represented by Michael Curry of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
J.A. BRADLEY is now represented by Paul Stevens of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
ANTHONY R. LEWIS won the Edward E. Smith “Skylark” Award for contributions to science fiction, and HILARY CLARCQ received the Gaughan Award, given annually to an emerging artist, both presented by the New England Science Fiction Association at Boskone 58, held online February 12-14, 2021.
LAURA JEAN MCKAY‘s The Animals in That Country (Scribe) won the Victorian Prize for Literature, as well as the Prize for Fiction, in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, presented during an online award ceremony January 31, 2021. The awards are given by the Victorian Government to honor Australian writing. Most category winners receive $25,000, with an overall winner taking an additional $100,000.
CHRISTOPHER BARZAK‘s The Gone Away Place (Knopf Books for Young Readers) won the Whippoorwill Award, presented by the National Conference for Teachers of English. Barzak is a professor of English and World Languages at Youngstown State University.
RUMAAN ALAM‘s Leave the World Behind (Ecco) and N.K. JEMISIN‘s The City We Became (Orbit) are finalists for the inaugural $50,000 Gotham Book Prize, given for best New York City-based novel. The prize was created to “support New York City and its arts community by recognizing what makes the city so special as it enters a challenging recovery from Covid-19.” The winner, chosen by jury, will be announced in March 2021.
AKWAEKE EMEZI‘s The Death of Vivek Oji ( Faber) and CATHERINE LACEY‘s Pew (Granta) are on the longlist for the £20,000 International Dylan Thomas Prize for “the best published or produced literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under.” The shortlist will be announced on March 25, 2021, and the winner on May 13.
WILLIAM GIBSON sold a sequel to The Peripheral and Agency to Jessica Wade at Berkley via Flip Brophy of Sterling Lord Literistic.
GARTH NIX sold Terciel & Elinor, latest in the Old Kingdom series, plus a 25th-Anniversary Edition of first volume Sabriel, to Katherine Tegen at Tegen Books via Jill Grinberg of Jill Grinberg Literary Management.
BEN H. WINTERS sold SF thriller Big Time to Josh Kendall at Mulholland Books via Joelle Delbourgo of Joelle Delbourgo Associates.
TOBIAS S. BUCKELL sold collection Shoggoths in Traffic to Patrick Swenson at Fairwood Press via Hannah Bowman of Liza Dawson Associates. He delivered A Stranger in the Citadel to Steve Feldberg at Audible Originals.
PREMEE MOHAMED‘s SF novella These Lifeless Things sold to David Thomas Moore at Solaris for their new novella line via Michael Curry of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
KIRSTEN MILLER sold The Change – “Big Little Lies meets The Witches of Eastwick” – to Rachel Kahan at William Morrow in a pre-empt via Suzanne Gluck of William Morris Endeavor.
JONATHAN MABERRY‘s zombie collection Empty Graves: Tales of the Living Dead went to Marie Whittaker at WordFire, and collection Joe Ledger: Secret Missions to Christopher Payne at JournalStone, both via Sara Crowe of Pippin Properties.
WOLE TALABI sold I, Shigidi and Fist, “fantasy stories usually rooted in Nigerian and other African traditions,” to Betsy Wollheim at DAW via Bieke van Aggelen of African Literary Agency.
A.C. WISE sold collection The Ghost Sequences to Michael Kelly at Undertow Publications.
MAYA DEANE‘s Wrath Goddess Sing, a “trans women’s literary epic fantasy,” went to David Pomerico at William Morrow via Jason Yarn of Jason Yarn Literary Agency.
ASHLEY SAUNDERS & LESLIE SAUNDERS sold SF novel Exiles and a second book to Adrienne Procaccini at 47North.
ANTHONY DOERR sold Cloud Cuckoo Land, a literary novel with SF elements, to Nan Graham at Scribner via Amanda Urban of ICM.
DAVID SANTOS DONALDSON‘s literary ghost story Greenland went to Tara Parsons at Amistad in a pre-empt via Tom Miller of Liza Dawson Associates.
SAM BOUSH sold military multiverse thriller Overleaper to Diana M. Pho at Serial Box via Gina Panettieri of Talcott & Notch.
HAROLD JOHNSON sold The Bjorkan Sagas to Doug Richmond and Bruce Walsh at House of Anansi in Canada via Samantha Haywood of Transatlantic Literary Agency.
NADIA AFIFI sold two sequels to The Sentient to Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press via Naomi Davis of BookEnds.
SANDRA MARCHETTI CROCKER sold The Man in the Mirror to Sheri Williams at TouchPoint Press.
MARISA CRANE‘s debut Exoskeletons sold to Alicia Kroell at Catapult at auction via Maggie Cooper of Aevitas Creative Management.
LAUREL PETERSON‘s psychic mystery Shadow Notes went to Christopher Madden at Woodhall Press.
A.S. THORNTON sold Son of the Salt Chaser, sequel to Daughter of the Salt King, to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books. Bridget McFadden will edit.
KELLY ANN JACOBSON sold Tink and Wendy, “a dark re-imagining of the Peter Pan story,” to Kat Georges at Three Rooms Press.
SARAH BIGLOW & MOLLY ZENK sold Allied and Fated, sequels to Hunted, to Candace Thomas at Cayélle via Denise Barone of Barone Literary Agency on behalf of Sarah Biglow and Molly Zenk.
CHERIE DIMALINE sold dystopian YA fantasy Hunting by Stars and a second book to Maggie Lehrman at Abrams Children’s for six figures, and to Lynne Missen at Penguin Canada, via Rachel Letofsky and Ron Eckel of CookeMcDermid.
SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON‘s YA horror novel Howl sold to Liesa Abrams at Simon & Schuster Children’s via Katie Shea Boutillier of Donald Maass Literary Agency. Amanda Ramirez will edit.
LAMAR GILES sold an SF horror YA to Jody Corbett at Scholastic for six figures via Jamie Weiss Chilton of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
SHANNON DITTEMORE sold a sequel to YA fantasy Winter, White and Wicked to Emily Daluga at Amulet via Holly Root of Root Literary.
SACHA LAMB sold When the Angels Left the Old Country, “reminiscent of a (queer) Isaac Bashevis Singer story,” to Arthur Levine at Levine Querido in a pre-empt via Rena Rossner of Deborah Harris Agency.
ERICA WATERS sold The Restless Dark and a second YA title to Alice Jerman at Harper Teen via Lauren Spieller of TriadaUS Literary Agency.
GWENDOLYN CLARE‘s YA thriller Curious Hunger, pitched as “a female Hannibal with a supernatural twist,” went to Diana M. Pho at Serial Box via Jennifer Azantian of Azantian Literary.
AMELIA LOKEN sold YA fantasy Unravel to MaryBeth Dalto-McCarthy at Sword and Silk.
LILLA GLASS sold The Unseen – “Six of Crows meets Stardust” – and three more books to Tee Tate at City Owl Press.
New writer RACHEL GILLIG sold gothic fantasy One Dark Window and a second book to Angeline Rodriguez at Orbit via Whitney Ross of Irene Goodman Agency.
First novelist GINNY MYERS SAIN sold YA fantasy Dark and Shallow Lies and a second book to Ruta Rimas at Razorbill for six figures at auction via Pete Knapp of Park & Fine Literary and Media.
REBECCA MIX sold debut novel The Ones We Burn, “a Sapphic YA fantasy,” to Alyza Liu at Margaret K. McElderry Books via Kiana Nguyen of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
ZIG ZAG CLAYBOURNE sold space western novella Silver Wing to Diana M. Pho at Serial Box via Beth Marshea of Ladderbird Agency.
JOEL DANE sold military SF novella Marigold Breach to Diana M. Pho at Serial Box via Caitlin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates.
JUSTIN C. KEY sold horror novella Spider King to Diana M. Pho at Serial Box.
E.A. COPEN‘s horror-comedy novella Evil Dad vs. the Shopping Dead went to Diana M. Pho at Serial Box.
TONY LUNEDI‘s horror novella The Bells sold to Diana M. Pho at Serial Box via Evan Gregory of Ethan Ellenberg Literary.
JONATHAN STRAHAN will edit Twelve Tomorrows 2022, a climate-change themed anthology of fiction, art, and non-fiction for Susan Buckley at MIT Press, and The Book of Witches for David Pomerico at Harper Voyager, via Howard Morhaim of the Morhaim Literary Agency.
JOHN LANGAN sold new collection Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies, and resold collection Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters, to Ross E. Lockhart at Word Horde via Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown.
LISA KROGER & MELANIE ANDERSON sold non-fiction book Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult to Rebecca Gyllenhaal at Quirk Books via Ann Leslie Tuttle of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
ROBERT STALLMAN resold the Book of the Beast trilogy – The Orphan, The Captive, and The Beast – to Jerad Walters at Centipede Press via Vaughne Hansen of the Virginia Kidd Agency.
KASS MORGAN & DANIELLE PAIGE resold YA The Ravens and a second book to Molly Powell at Hodder & Stoughton in the UK via Charlotte Bodman of Rights People on behalf of Candace Finn at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
MOHALE MASHIGO sold collection Intruders to Gigi Ishmael at The Ishmael Tree via Bieke van Aggelen of African Literary Agency on behalf of Pan Macmillan South Africa.
SHANICE NDLOVU‘s collection The Pride of Noonlay resold to Gigi Ishmael at The Ishmael Tree via Bieke van Aggelen of African Literary Agency on behalf of Modjaji Books.
JON YAGED has been promoted to president of Macmillan Publishers US (Trade), replacing DON WEISBERG following the latter’s promotion to CEO of English-language trade. JEN BESSER was promoted to replace Yaged as president of Macmillan Children’s. Tom Doherty Associates chairman TOM DOHERTY and president and publisher FRITZ FOY are among the executives now reporting to Yaged. SALLY RICHARDSON is now publisher-at-large for Macmillan Publishers.
PETER RUIS is taking over as president of Canadian retailer Indigo Books and Music.
KUO-YU LIANG has launched a new pop-culture publishing consultancy, Ku Worldwide.
Film rights to BRIAN JACQUES‘s Redwall series were optioned by Netflix, which plans an animated feature written by Patrick McHale, via Random House Children’s UK.
ELIZABETH BEAR‘s story “Dolly” (2011) will be adapted by Vanessa Taylor and Dres Pearce as a film for Apple Studios, with Florence Pugh to star, via Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency and WME.
Film and TV rights to 16 JAMES TIPTREE, JR. stories sold to Imperative Entertainment via Christine Cohen and Vaughne Hansen of the Virginia Kidd Agency, working with Geoffrey Sanford and Brooke Ehrlich of Anonymous Content.
Film rights to DON DELILLO‘s White Noise were optioned by A24 with Noah Baumbach to adapt and direct via Amy Schiffman of Echo Lake Management on behalf of Robin Straus of Robin Straus Agency.
Film rights to HYE-YOUNG PYUN‘s The Hole were optioned by Sam Esmail Productions via Emily Hayward Whitlock of The Artists Partnership on behalf of Barbara J. Zitwer Agency.
A.R. CAPETTA sold Stranger Things tie-in Rebel Robin to Sasha Henriques at Random House Children’s via Sara Crowe of Pippin Properties.
JONATHAN MABERRY & BRYAN THOMAS SCHMIDT will edit tie-in anthology Aliens vs. Predator: Ultimate Prey for Steve Saffel at Titan Books via Sara Crowe of Pippin Properties.
This and more like it in the March 2021 issue of Locus.
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