People & Publishing Roundup, July 2023
Author CHARLES YU has joined the Board of Directors for the National Book Foundation.
CATRIONA WARD’s Sundial (Macmillan) won Best Hardcover Novel in the Thriller Awards, presented by the International Thriller Writers and announced June 3, 2023 at ThrillerFest XVIII in New York City.
AYANNA LLOYD BANWO’s When We Were Birds (Hamish Hamilton) won the £2,500 Best First Novel Award from the Authors’ Club, open to any debut novel written in English and published in the UK, presented at the National Liberal Club in London on May 24, 2023.
EDWIDGE DANTICAT won the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, recognizing writers who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in the short story form.
LOIS ROSSON, a PhD science historian ‘‘focusing on visual representations of the space environment,’’ is the second recipient of the $50,000, yearlong Octavia E. Butler Fellowship, given by the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino CA.
DHONIELLE CLAYTON’s The Marvellers (Holt) is one of ten finalists for The Week Junior Book Awards in the Older Fiction category, for books that demonstrate ‘‘the highest standards of storytelling, captivating readers from start to finish with a well-crafted plot, exceptional writing, and diverse and engaging characters.’’ The winner will be announced October 2, 2023.
KIRAN KAUR SAINI won the A.C. Bose Grant for South Asian Speculative Literature, presented by the Speculative Literature Foundation and DesiLit for story ‘‘The Color of Conflagration’’. The $1,000 grant is given annually to ‘‘a South Asian/South Asian diaspora writer developing speculative fiction.’’
An expanded edition of J.R.R. TOLKIEN’s The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by the late HUMPHREY CARPENTER and CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN, will appear from William Morrow in the US with simultaneous global publication in November 2023. The new edition restores 150 letters (another 50,000 words) omitted from the 1981 edition due to length restrictions.
CARRIE VAUGHN’s historical fantasy The Naturalist Society went to Adrienne Procaccini at 47North via Seth Fishman of the Gernert Co.
CHERIE PRIEST sold The Drowning House and a second book to Rachel Gilmer at Sourcebooks via Stacia Decker of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
RACHEL HARRISON sold So Thirsty – ‘‘Thelma and Louise with vampires’’ – and a second book to Jessica Wade at Berkley via Lucy Carson of Friedrich Agency.
M.T. ANDERSON sold Nicked, his first novel for adults, about a heist to steal the corpse of St. Nicholas in the medieval era, to Zach Phillips at Pantheon in a pre-empt via David McCormick of McCormick Literary.
BENEDICT JACKA sold An Inheritance of Magic and another novel to Anne Sowards at Ace via Sophie Hicks of Sophie Hicks Agency.
DELILAH S. DAWSON sold thriller Guillotine to Cath Trechman at Titan Books via Stacia Decker of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
ELISE KOVA sold three books in romantic fantasy series Arcana Academy to Tricia Narwani at Del Rey for seven figures at auction via Jenny Bent of the Bent Agency. UK rights sold to Molly Powell at Hodderscape at auction via Zoe Plant of the Bent Agency.
SUNG-IL KIM’s epic fantasy
Blood of the Old Kings and two more books sold to Lindsey Hall at Tor via Joeun Baek of Greenbook Literary Agency. Aislyn Fredsall will edit.
K.X. SONG’s fantasy duology The Night Ends with Fire, ‘‘inspired by the Chinese legend of Mulan and the classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms,’’ sold to Anne Sowards at Ace at auction via Pete Knapp of Park & Fine Literary and Media. UK rights went to Molly Powell at Hodder & Stoughton via Claire Wilson of Rogers, Coleridge & White.
RUMAAN ALAM’s next novel Entitlement and a second book sold to Sarah McGrath at Riverhead in a pre-empt via Julie Barer of The Book Group.
BRIDGET MORRISSEY, EMILY WIBBERLEY & AUSTIN SIEGEMUND-BROKA, writing as E.B. ASHER, sold fantasy This Will Be Fun to Sylvan Creekmore at Avon via Taylor Haggerty of Root Literary for Morrissey and by Katie Shea Boutillier of Donald Maass Literary Agency for Wibberley and Siegemund-Broka.
NICHOLAS BOWLING, writing as NICK NEWMAN, sold speculative thriller The Garden and another title to Sally Kim at Putnam at auction via Olivia Maidment of Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. Canadian rights went to Lara Hinchberger at Penguin Canada, and UK rights to Kirsty Dunseath at Doubleday UK.
KATRINA KWAN’s romantic fantasy The Last Dragon of the East and a second title sold to Amara Hoshijo at Saga at auction via Jim McCarthy of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
ROSE BLACK’s queer light fantasy Til Death Do Us Bard and a second book sold to Natasha Qureshi at Hodderscape via Rebecca Podos of Rees Literary Agency.
CRAIG DILOUIE sold novel How To Make a Horror Movie, about a cursed camera, to Bradley Englert at Redhook via David Fugate of LaunchBooks Literary Agency.
MAIA CHANCE sold speculative thriller The Body Next Door to Leah Mol at Mira via Stephany Evans of Ayesha Pande Literary.
A.J. STEIGER sold Eye of a Little God, a fantasy with elements of horror and romance, to Victoria Britton at Severn House.
KATHARYN BLAIR’s supernatural thriller The Hushed went to Daniel Ehrenhaft at Blackstone Publishing via Gwen Beal of UTA.
C.S. HUMBLE sold five books in the Black Wells supernatural horror series to Kevin Lucia at Cemetery Dance.
AMAL SINGH sold fantasy The Garden of Delights to Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press via Kanishka Gupta of Writer’s Side.
MINROSE GWIN sold historical fantasy Beautiful Dreamers, set in the Mississippi Gulf Coast community of Belle Cote to Meg Reid at Hub City Press via Jane von Mehren of Aevitas Creative Management.
HONOUR RAE sold three books in the Totem fantasy series to Rhett Bruno at Aethon.
JESSI ELLIOTT’s paranormal romance The Devil’s Waltz sold to Zara Hoffman at Inimitable Books.
MIKE SALT’s horror novel Hollow went to Andrew Robert at DarkLit via Alec Frankel of APA.
KAMILAH COLE sold ‘‘speculative dark academia thriller’’ The Sinister Elite and another title to Mary Altman at Poisoned Pen Press via Emily Forney of BookEnds.
CHLOE SPENCER’s paranormal mystery Haunting Melody sold to Joshua Dean Perry at Tiny Ghost Press.
CAITLIN MARCEAU’s horror novel The Space Between My Thighs went to Andrew Robert at DarkLit via Alec Frankel.
KEVIN LUCIA’s alternate history weird Western Billy the Kid and the Lazarus Stone went to David Wilson at Dimension W. David Dodd will edit.
MARC GUGGENHEIM sold SF novel Infinitum to Chantelle Aimee Osman at Lake Union Publishing via Anthony Mattero of CAA.
MADISON LAWSON sold The Registration Rewritten, sequel to The Registration, to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books via Julie Gwinn of the Seymour Agency. Helga Schier will edit.
RACHEL HOWZELL HALL sold The Last One and three more books to Liz Pelletier at Red Tower via Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
MAELAN HOLLADAY sold epic fantasy The Storm Gathers to Zara Hoffman at Inimitable Books.
VANESSA KRAUSS sold Three Wasted Chances, concluding a trilogy, plus two more books to Christine Ardron at Dream’s Edge. Graeme Parker will edit.
JOSHUA HULL’s horror novel Mouth sold to Matt Blairstone at Tenebrous Press. Alex Woodroe will edit.
CARSON WINTER sold horror novel A Spectre Is Haunting Greentree to Matt Blairstone at Tenebrous Press. Alex Woodroe will edit.
DESIRÉE M. NICCOLI sold Ensnaring the Siren, third in the Haven Cove series, to Tee Tate at City Owl Press via Kaitlyn Katsoupis of Belcastro Agency.
AK NEVERMORE sold fantasy Flame & Shadow to Dianne Rich at The Wild Rose Press.
CLARISSA TRINIDAD GONZALEZ sold magical realist novel Celestina’s House to Kwame Scott Fraser at Rare Machines. Julia Kim will edit.
VICTORIA AVEYARD’s Fate Breaker, concluding the YA fantasy Realm Breaker Series, went to Alice Jerman at Harper Teen via Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media. UK rights sold to Celia Killen at Orion.
LADARRION WILLIAMS’s Blood at the Root, first in a YA fantasy trilogy set at a magical HBCU in the South, and two more books sold to Liesa Abrams at Labyrinth Road via Pete Knapp of Park & Fine Literary and Media.
LAUREN ROBERTS sold YA fantasy Powerless and two more books to Nicole Ellul at Simon & Schuster Children’s via lawyer Lloyd Jassin.
POLLY CROSBY’s ‘‘dark dystopian fractured fairytale’’ YA novel This Tale Is Forbidden went to Linas Alsenas at Scholastic UK at auction via Juliet Mushens of Mushens Entertainment.
LORA SENF sold YA fantasy The Losting Fountain to Ardi Alspach at Union Square Kids via Ali Herring at Spencerhill Associates.
JOEY GRACEFFA & LAURA SULLIVAN’s YA fantasy The Twelve sold to Kristen Pettit at Harper Teen via Kirsten Neuhaus of Ultra Literary. Sara Schonfeld will edit.
MADELINE CLAIRE FRANKLIN’s The Wilderness of Girls – a YA novel ‘‘at the intersection of thriller and folklore’’ – and a second book sold to Tiffany Liao at Zando Children’s at auction via Danielle Burby of Mad Woman Literary Agency.
KAY ADAMS sold YA fantasy romance Heirs of Bone and Sea to Zara Hoffman at Emerge.
VERONICA KING sold YA portal fantasy Down the Well, illustrated by NV JAMES, to Zara Hoffman at Emerge.
Horror writer MICHAEL WEHUNT’s first novel The October Film Haunt and a second book sold to Alexandra Sehulster at St. Martin’s via Ron Eckel of CookeMcDermid.
MAITHREE WIJESEKARA sold first fantasy The Prince Without Sorrow and two more in the Obsidian Throne trilogy to Natasha Bardon at Voyager UK at auction via Maddy Belton of Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency.
First novelist EMILY YU-HSUAN QIN’s fantasy Aunt Tigress and two more books went to Betsy Wollheim at DAW via Matt Bialer of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
SHAWN CARPENTER’s debut fantasy The Price of Redemption – ‘‘Patrick O’Brian with magic’’ – and a second book sold to Joe Monti at Saga Press via Caitlin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates.
JENNA SATTERTHWAITE’s first novel Made for You, ‘‘The Bachelor meets The Stepford Wives,’’ and a second book went to Leah Mol at Mira in a pre-empt via Lauren Bieker of FinePrint Literary Management.
HOLLY SEARCY’s first novel The Shiver Tree went to Rick Bleiweiss at Blackstone Publishing via Cole Lanahan of the Seymour Agency.
First novelist HOLLY WILSON sold absurdist coming-of-age story Kittentits to Emily Bell at Gillian Flynn Books in a pre-empt for publication via Kent Wolf of Neon Literary.
New writer ANDRE L. BRADLEY’s debut Trailer Park Prince went to Joshua Dean Perry at Tiny Ghost Press.
LAURA CHOW REEVE sold first collection A Small Apocalypse to Marisa Siegel at Northwestern University Press via Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts of HG Literary.
SAMANTHA TRAUNFELD’s debut military fantasy The Legionnaire sold to Zara Hoffman at Inimitable Books.
CASS BIEHN sold debut YA historical fantasy Vesuvius to Zoie Konneker at Peachtree Teen via Annalise Errico of Ladderbird Literary Agency.
SUNNY MORAINE sold horror novella Your Shadow Half Remains, expanding on story ‘‘If Living Is Seeing I’m Holding My Breath’’, to Kristin Temple at Nightfire via Connor Goldsmith of Fuse Literary.
LEE MANDELO will edit Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity for Diana Pho at Erewhon via Tara Gilbert of Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.
PETER S. BEAGLE sold UK rights to his long-awaited I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons, and resold The Innkeeper’s Song and collection The Way Home, to Claire Ormsby-Potter at Gollancz, all via Caspian Dennis of Abner Stein on behalf of Howard Morhaim of Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. Gollancz will also reissue A Fine and Private Place with an introduction by Neil Gaiman. Saga will publish the new novel in the US.
The literary estate of JAMES BLISH resold Black Easter and The Day After Judgment to James D. Jenkins at Valancourt Books via Vaughne Hansen of the Virginia Kidd Agency.
CHANNELLE DESAMOURS sold YA fantasy Needy Little Things and another book to Alexandra Antscherl at Bloomsbury UK Children’s via Molly Ker Hawn at The Bent Agency. Carla Hutchinson will edit. Wednesday Books will publish in the US.
GRETCHEN RUE sold Death by a Thousand Sips, Steeped To Death, and a third book in the Witches’ Brew mystery series to Bianca Gillam at Head of Zeus in the UK via Stephanie Manova of US publisher Crooked Lane Books.
SARA RAASCH sold The Queen’s Council: Sleeping Beauty, latest in the YA historical fantasy series reimagining Disney Princesses, to Jocelyn Davies at Disney-Hyperion via Amy Stapp of Wolfson Literary Agency.
This report and more like it in the July 2023 issue of Locus.
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