People & Publishing Roundup, November 2023
MILESTONES
CHARLES E. GANNON is now represented by Vaughne Hansen & Christine Cohen of the Virginia Kidd Agency.
NICOLA GRIFFITH’s Spear (Tordotcom) was longlisted for the 2023 Crown Awards, presented by the Historical Writers Association. The shortlist was announced October 18, 2023, and winners will be revealed on November 22, 2023.
NAOMI KRITZER’s ‘‘The Dragon Project’’ (Clarkesworld 3/22) won the Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award for Short Fiction, presented September 30, 2023 at Capclave in Rockville MD.
MAME BOUGOUMA DIENE & WOPPA DIALLO’s ‘‘A Soul of Small Places’’ (Africa Risen) won the £10,000 Caine Prize for African Writing, ‘‘awarded for a short story by an African writer published in English.’’
JULIA ARMFIELD’s Our Wives Under the Sea (Picador) is on the shortlist for the £2,000 Polari Prize, given to writers born or based in the UK and Ireland ‘‘for emerging and established LGBTQ+ literary talent.’’ Winners will be announced November 24, 2023. Armfield sold Private Rites, ‘‘set in a world of near-constant rain,’’ to Caroline Bleeke at Flatiron Books in the US and Kish Widyaratna at Fourth Estate in the UK via Sam Copeland of Rogers, Coleridge & White.
AYANNA LLOYD BANWO’s When We Were Birds (Doubleday) won the £2,000 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, honoring a novel in any genre ‘‘with brilliant characterisation and a distinct voice that is confidently written and assuredly realised.’’
ZAIN KHALID won the Bard Fiction Prize for speculative debut novel Brother Alive (Grove Atlantic). The prize ‘‘is intended to encourage and support young writers of fiction, and provide them with an opportunity to work in a fertile intellectual environment.’’ Khalid will have a semester-long residency at Bard College in fall of 2024.
JONATHAN LETHEM sold novel The Court in Exile, about ‘‘scabs and striking workers at a medieval themed dinner theater restaurant whose lives take a surreal turn,’’ and collection New and Selected Stories to Helen Atsma at Ecco via Eric Simonoff of William Morris Endeavor.
HARRY TURTLEDOVE sold City in Chains, an ‘‘epic fantasy set in a city reminiscent of occupied Paris during World War II,’’ with dragons, to Rhett Bruno at Aethon via Russell Galen of Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency.
DARYL GREGORY sold literary SF novel When We Were Real, ‘‘a perfect mashup of The Canterbury Tales and The Matrix set a few years after the world was notified we’ve been living in a simulation,’’ to Tim O’Connell at Simon & Schuster at auction via Seth Fishman of the Gernert Company.
ROBERT J. SAWYER’s The Downloaded sold to Edward Willett at Shadowpaw Press.
FIONA MOORE’s SF novel Rabbit in the Moon went to A.M. Rycroft at Epic via John Jarrold of John Jarrold Literary Agency.
RICHARD CHIZMAR & W.H. CHIZMAR sold Widow’s Point: The Complete Haunting, combining novella ‘‘Widow’s Point’’ (2018) with a new novel, to Ed Schlesinger at Gallery via Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency.
PHILIP FRACASSI’s The Third Rule of Time Travel went to Bradley Englert at Orbit US and Nadia Saward at Orbit UK via Elizabeth Copps of Copps Literary Services.
EDEN ROBINSON’s fantasy The Sorceress of Gayouyala to Anne Collins at Random House Canada in a pre-empt via Denise Bukowski of the Bukowski Agency.
S.T. GIBSON sold an untitled fantasy trilogy, described as ‘‘Wuthering Heights meets The Cruel Prince,’’ to Nadia Saward at Orbit UK and Brit Hvide at Orbit US via Tara Gilbert of kt literary.
ZAKIYA DALILA HARRIS’s Kinfolk Island, ‘‘exploring issues of Black excellence, legacy, and what we owe to our ancestors,’’ and a second book went to Lindsay Sagnette at Atria for seven figures via Stephanie Delman of Trellis Literary Management.
SCOTT R. JONES sold new novel Drill to Ross E. Lockhart at Word Horde.
MAX BOOTH III sold horror novel I Believe in Mister Bones – Kathe Koja’s The Cipher meets John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness – to Benjamin DeVos at Apocalypse Party.
CATHERINE LACEY sold collection My Stalkers and novel The Mobius Book to Jackson Howard and Eric Chinski at Farrar, Straus, Giroux via Jin Auh of the Wylie Agency.
PIPER CJ’s A Chill in the Flame and A Frozen Pyre, a prequel duology set in the world of The Night and Its Moon, sold to Christa Desir at Bloom Books via Alexandra D’Amico and Carolyn Forde of Transatlantic Literary Agency. Writing as FERN FORGETTABLE, CJ sold The Graveyard Gift, first in the Fern’s School for Wayward Fae series, plus three more books to Tricia Lin at Random House Children’s via Forde and D’Amico.
MAXYM M. MARTINEAU sold three books in a Gothic romantasy series starting with House of Blight to Ariana Sinclair at Harper Voyager for six figures at auction via Kimberly Whalen of the Whalen Agency.
LILLIAM RIVERA’s first adult novel, supernatural thriller Tiny Threads, went to Tricia Narwani at Del Rey in a pre-empt via Eddie Schneider of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
CHARLOTTE STEIN’s How to Help a Hungry Werewolf – ‘‘What We Do in the Shadows meets Gilmore Girls’’ – and two more books in the series sold to Eileen Rothschild at St. Martin’s in a pre-empt via Courtney Miller-Callihan of Handspun Literary.
EIREN CAFFALL sold a near-future novel to Elisabeth Dyssegaard at St. Martin’s in a pre-empt via Julia Lord of Julia Lord Literary Management.
LING LING HUANG sold art world SF novel Immaculate Conception to Pilar Garcia-Brown at Dutton via Kirby Kim of Janklow & Nesbit.
DANI FRANCIS sold Silver Elite and two more in a dystopian romance trilogy to Emily Archbold at Del Rey, and to Sam Bradbury at Del Rey UK at auction, via Kimberly Brower and Aimee Ashcraft of Brower Literary.
RUBY DIXON sold romantasy Bull Moon Rising and another title to Cindy Hwang at Berkley via Holly Root of Root Literary.
JAMES COX’s SF novel Grand Theft AI and a second book went to Josh Stanton at Blackstone Publishing via Shane Salerno of The Story Factory and Jackson Keeler of InkWorks.
SHELLEY WOOD’s The Leap Year Gene, about a woman born in a leap year who ‘‘grows one year older every four years,’’ sold to Claire Wachtel at Union Square & Co and Iris Tupholme at Harper Canada via Samantha Haywood of Transatlantic Literary Agency.
JAMES GOODHAND sold The Day Tripper, about a man who wakes up in a different year every day, to Meredith Clark at Mira via Helen Edwards of Helen Edwards Rights Agency on behalf of Harry Illingworth of DHH Literary.
JAYCI LEE sold Nine Tailed and a second book in a new romantasy series – ‘‘if Sarah J. Maas wrote a K-Drama’’ – to Alison Dasho at Montlake via Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
JULIETTE CROSS sold dark historical romantasy trilogy The Fire that Binds to Monique Patterson at Bramble via Rachel Brooks of BookEnds.
YIGIT TURHAN’s horror novel Perihan sold to Nicole Brebner at Mira via Lane Heymont of the Tobias Literary Agency. Emma Cole will edit.
Polish writer JAKUB SZAMALEK sold Inner Space, translated by Kasia Beresford to Gabriella Page-Fort at Harper Via in a pre-empt via Adam Chromy of Movable Type Management on behalf of Foksal.
ALINA KHAWAJA sold romantic fantasy Stranger than Fiction, about a struggling writer whose muse comes to life, to Leah Mol at Mira via Uwe Stender and Annalie Buscarino of TriadaUS Literary Agency.
MARC ALAN EDELHEIT sold three books in the Claimed Realm epic fantasy series to Josh Hayes at Aethon via Andrea Hurst of Andrea Hurst Literary Management. Rhett Bruno will edit.
CHRISTINE MORGAN sold new Cthulhu mythos collection Around Eldritch Corners to Ross E. Lockhart at Word Horde.
NS JOHNSON sold contemporary romances ‘‘with military heroes and fairytale tropes’’ Wicked Prince, Beautiful Beast, Masked Wolfe, and Dark Hunter to Tanya Anne Crosby at Primera.
BETHANY CLAIRE’s romantasy novels The Thief & the Fae King, The Lover & the Death Maker, and The Queen & the Last Throne, in a series inspired by Robin Hood, went to Tanya Anne Crosby at Primera.
GIANNI WASHINGTON’s literary horror collection Flowers from the Void sold to Christoph Paul at Clash via Penelope Burns of Gelfman Schneider on behalf of Charlotte Colwill of Colwill and Peddle.
REBECCA SCHIER-AKAMELU sold SF novel Negative Images to Alexandria Brown at Rising Action.
INES JOHNSON sold paranormal romances The Lion’s Wild Claim, The Lion’s Grumpy Claim, The Lion’s Sunny Claim, The Lion’s Rival Claim, The Lion’s Fake Claim, and The Lion’s Royal Claim in the Last Pride Series to Tanya Anne Crosby at Primera.
J.S. GOLD sold three books in the Sanhedrin Chronicles urban fantasy series to Walter Boyes at Novus Mundi via Jeff Ourvan of Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency.
DAVID SANDNER sold horror novel His Unburned Heart, about Mary Shelley, to Jennifer Barnes at Raw Dog Screaming Press.
PERRY MEESTER’s ‘‘queer body horror Western’’ The Flesh Inherent went to Max Booth III at Ghoulish Books.
JOE KOCH sold literary horror and weird fiction collection Invaginies to Christoph Paul at Clash.
JEREMY GRIFFIN’s horror collection Scream Queen went to Diane Goettel at Black Lawrence Press.
MOUSSA OULD EBNOU’s collection The New Eve sold to Iskanchi Press.
RD PIRES sold four books in the Tides that Reign series to Cal Fable at Midnight Meadow. Kadan Astrophel will edit.
CHANTAL GADOURY’s fairytale novel Until the Last Page went to Zara Hoffman at Inimitable Books.
DON SAWYER’s romantic fantasy thriller The Burning Gem sold to In Churl Yo at Castle Bridge Media. Jason Henderson will edit.
LINDZ MCLEOD sold vampire novel Sunbathers to Caitlin Marceau at DarkLit via Laura Zats of Headwater Literary Management.
KAT COFFIN’s Hell’s Heresies, first in a new fantasy series, went to Danielle DeVor at City Owl Press via Christi Cardenas of the Plains Agency.
E.C. MYERS sold Gamers and a second children’s book to Kate Egan at Pixel+Ink via Eddie Schneider of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
HAYLEY CHEWINS sold YA verse fantasy novel I Am the Swarm to Meriam Metoui at Viking Children’s at auction via Patricia Nelson of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
SASHA PEYTON SMITH sold The Rose Bargain and a sequel in a YA fantasy romance duology to Alice Jerman at Harper Teen at auction via Hillary Jacobson at CAA. UK rights went to Sarah Levison and Lindsey Heaven at Harper Children’s UK at auction.
KATHLEEN S. ALLEN sold YA SF novel The Resurrectionist to Kate Meltzer at Roaring Brook Press in a pre-empt via Alicia Brooks of Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency. Emilia Sowersby will edit.
GABE COLE NOVOA’s dystopian YA fantasy These Vengeful Gods sold to Jenna Lettice at Random House Children’s via Louise Fury of the Fury Agency.
ZEENA GOSRANI sold YA romantasy This Dark Heart to Penny Thomas at Firefly Press via Gemma Cooper and Zoe Plant of the Bent Agency.
MICHELLE JABES CORPORA sold The Golden Reign and two more in the Children of Khetara series – ‘‘an ancient Egyptian Game of Thrones for YA readers’’ – to Annette Pollert-Morgan at Sourcebooks Fire in a pre-empt via Allison Hellegers of Stimola Literary Studio.
ANDIE L. SMITH sold Covalence, Transference, and Disturbance in a YA dystopian series to Arielle Haughee at Orange Blossom.
AUTUMN KRAUSE’s YA fantasy Grave Flowers sold to Ashley Hearn at Peachtree Teen via Susan Hawk of Upstart Crow Literary.
CASSANDRA NEWBOULD’s postapocalyptic YA novel If I Survive went to Ashley Hearn at Peachtree Teen via Ernie Chiara of Fuse Literary.
BENJAMIN REMPEL’s YA zombie novel Infect sold to Alanna Rusnak at Chicken House.
TIFFANY DAUNE sold YA fantasy This Cruel Fate, inspired by Slavic folklore, to Anna Olson at Finch.
GLORIA MUÑOZ’s This Is the Year, ‘‘a hybrid prose and verse YA novel set in a near-future Florida ravaged by cataclysmic climate events,’’ and a second title sold to Alexandra Aceves at Holiday House via Serene Hakim of Ayesha Pande Literary.
BRITT COOPER & ERIN DULIN’s YA fantasy Rose of Ruin sold to Jamie Rose at Finch via Amy Brewer of Metamorphosis Literary Agency.
GWENDOLYN WOMACK’s YA fantasy The Premonitions Club went to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books via Alec Shane of Writers House. Elana Gibson will edit.
S.E. BABIN sold Court of Fallen Dreams, Shard of Winter, Spring’s Violent Rule, Summer’s Cruel Bloom, and Throne of Dark Whispers in a YA/New Adult romantic fantasy series to Kate Ward at Oliver Heber.
JOSH SPERO’s YA fantasy Hall-Lore-Ween, illustrated by KJ DAVIS, TT HERNANDEZ, and ALDO AVELAR, sold to Jason Henderson at Castle Bridge Media. In Churl Yo will edit.
CHRISTINE CALELLA’s YA dark Cinderella retelling Liar’s Kingdom sold to Tamara Grasty at Page Street via Laurel Symonds of kt literary.
BETHANIE FINGER sold three books in the YA historical fantasy More than Life series to Rachel Del Grosso at Wise Wolf.
SOPHIE BURNHAM sold first novel Sargassa and two more books in a trilogy set in an alternate North America where the Roman Empire never fell, to Navah Wolfe at DAW via Maria Napolitano of the Jane Rotrosen Agency.
New writer ANDREW LUDINGTON sold Splinter Effect and Herod’s Triangle, starting a new series about a time-traveling archaeologist, to Michael Homler at St. Martin’s via David Hale Smith and Naomi Eisenbeiss of Inkwell Management.
First novelist STACY SIVINSKI sold fantasy The Crescent Moon Tearoom and a second book to Elizabeth Hitti at Atria at auction via Adria Goetz of kt literary.
IAN ROGERS sold debut novel Sycamore and resold collection Supernoirtural Tales to Kevin Lucia at Cemetery Dance via Jack Gernert of the Gernert Company.
ANDREA DEWERD’s first novel What We Sacrifice for Magic went to Holly Ingraham at Alcove Press via Kate McKean of Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
Debut writer ANGELA LIU sold speculative fiction collection The Beautiful Ways We Break Each Other Open, ‘‘inspired by Chinese-Japanese mythologies,’’ to Rob Carroll at Dark Matter Ink.
First novelist SHELLY PAGE sold queer contemporary romantasy Brewed with Love and a second book to Bria Ragin, Nicola Yoon, and David Yoon at Joy Revolution via Rebecca Podos of Rees Literary Agency.
New writer JASMINE SMITH sold Death Card, ‘‘a Black and queer contemporary fantasy about a New Orleanian tarot reader and secret witch,’’ to Tiara Kittrell at Putnam Children’s via David Purse at Inked Entertainment; Smith is represented by Lane Clarke of ArtHouse Literary.
New writer S.F. WILLIAMSON sold alternate historical YA fantasy A Language of Dragons and a second book to Tom Bonnick at Harper Children’s UK at auction via Lydia Silver of Darley Anderson Children’s Agency. US rights went to Erica Sussman at Harper Teen via Becca Langton of Darley Anderson Children’s Agency.
RACHEL FIKES sold debut SF novel Keeper of Sorrows to Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press via Naomi Davis of BookEnds.
Debut author AAMIR HUSSAIN sold speculative historical novel Under the Full and Crescent Moon to Julia Kim at Dundurn Press.
AJ WHITNEY sold first novel Sovereign – ‘‘Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ meets The Hunger Games’’ – to Ricky Treon at Blue Handle.
KATE DICAMILLO sold fairytale novella The Hotel Balzaar, with illustrations by JULIA SARDA, to Karen Lotz at Candlewick via Holly McGhee of Pippin Properties for DiCamillo and Rebecca Sherman of Writers House for Sarda. Andrea Tompa will edit.
ORRIN GREY sold new non-fiction collection of horror film essays Glowing in the Dark to Ross E. Lockhart at Word Horde.
ELIZABETH BROADBENT’s queer, cosmic horror novella Blood Cypress went to Jennifer Barnes at Raw Dog Screaming Press. R.J. Joseph will edit.
HACHE PUEYO’s Gothic fairytale novel But Not Too Bold sold to Sanaa Ali-Virani at Tordotcom via Lee O’Brien of Looking Glass Literary & Media.
E.G. RAND’s novella Child of Dark Water went to In Churl Yo at Castle Bridge Media. Jason Henderson will edit.
S.H. COOPER sold horror novella Bottling His Ghosts to Jennifer Barnes at Raw Dog Screaming Press. R.J. Joseph will edit.
NAMWALI SERPELL sold non-fiction book On Morrison, an ‘‘examination of Toni Morrison’s genius through the author’s lens as an award-winning critic, professor, and Black fiction writer,’’ and essay collection I Am Dead, to Parisa Ebrahimi at Hogarth via PJ Mark of Janklow & Nesbit. UK rights sold to Poppy Hampson at Atlantic Books via Will Francis of Janklow & Nesbit UK.
LISA MANGUM will edit A Bit of Luck: Alternate Histories in Honor of Eric Flint for WordFire Press. Profits support the endowment fund for Superstars Writing Seminars.
ELLEN DATLOW turned in reprint anthology Fears: An Anthology of Psychological Horror to Tachyon Publications.
LEIGH BARDUGO resold The Familiar to Harriet Bourton and Vikki Moynes at Viking UK at auction via Kerry Nordling at US publisher Macmillan.
SARAH BETH DURST resold The Spellshop and a second cozy fantasy novel to Gillian Green at Tor UK via Chris Scheina at Macmillan USA.
CHERIE DIMALINE resold The Marrow Thieves to Marion Garner at Penguin Canada via Sam Hiyate of the Rights Factory on behalf of Marc Cote at DCB/Cormorant Books.
J.T. GEISSINGER sold previously self-published romantic thriller Pen Pal to Monique Patterson at Bramble via Jenny Bent of the Bent Agency.
CAIT CORRAIN resold Crown of Starlight and a second book to Davi Lancett at Daphne Press in the UK via Rachel Kind at Random House US on behalf of Rebecca Podos of Rees Literary Agency.
NIHAR MALAVIYA is now officially CEO of Penguin Random House, after filling the position in an interim role since January 1, 2023. He replaced MARKUS DOHLE, who left in December of last year. He was previously president and chief operating officer at PRH.
KIMBERLEY ATKINS joined UK publisher Head of Zeus as publishing director for fiction, starting September 1, 2023; she was publisher at Hodder & Stoughton before the company cut staff in August. She now reports to managing director Nicolas Cheetham.
SUZANNE MURPHY left her position as president and publisher of Harper Children’s ‘‘to pursue other interests’’ at the end of September. LIATE STEHLIK, president and publisher for the Morrow Group, will take on her position as well. Also at HarperCollins, DAN SCHWARTZ has been promoted to executive vice president, CFO, and head of North American operations, while global CIO MATT BENNETT has joined the global executive committee and reports to Schwartz. Senior vice-president and chief people officer ZANDRA MAGARIÑO is now also in charge of overseeing real estate.
ALYEA CANADA is now an editor at Orbit, moving over from Melville House.
TV rights to LUCIE BRITSCH’s satirical fantasy Thoughtless went to Toluca Pictures via Becca Rodriguez of Curate on behalf of Stacy Testa of Writers House.
This report and more like it in the November 2023 issue of Locus.
Photo credit: Patrick Cockpit, Dan Hawk, Stuart W., Ahmad Iskandar Photography
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