Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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YA psychological thriller to be adapted for film

Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Gordon Reece’s 2010 YA novel Mice (Allen & Unwin) will be adapted into a feature film by Nicole Kidman’s production company Blossom Films and Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories. Mice...

Windy Hollow makes first North American sale

Thursday, 17 October 2019
Independent children’s publisher Windy Hollow has sold North American rights to the picture book Ivy Bird (Tania McCartney, illus by Jess Racklyeft) to Blue Dot Books. Ivy Bird introduces younger...

‘Antarctica’ picture book sold to the US

Thursday, 19 September 2019
Fremantle Press has sold US rights to Moira Court’s forthcoming picture book Antarctica to Massachusetts-based children’s publisher Charlesbridge. ‘Charlesbridge’s roots are in nature nonfiction, which is what attracted them to...

Wakefield sells debut YA novel to US 

Thursday, 22 August 2019
Wakefield Press has sold world rights (ex ANZ) to Poppy Nwosu’s debut YA novel Making Friends with Alice Dyson to Walker Books US for a five-figure sum. The first book...

YA debut ‘What I Like About Me’ sold to US and France

Thursday, 20 June 2019
US and Canadian rights and French-language rights have been sold to Jenna Guillaume’s YA debut What I Like About Me (Pan) to Peachtree Publishing and Pocket Jeunesse, respectively. What I Like About...

Sophie Beer board books sold to the US

Thursday, 16 May 2019
Hardie Grant Egmont has sold North American rights to two board books by illustrator Sophie Beer to Penguin imprint Dial Books. Beer’s Love Makes a Family  and its forthcoming companion...

Hardie Grant Egmont acquires pre-teen period guide

Thursday, 18 April 2019
Hardie Grant Egmont has acquired world rights to a guide for pre-teens about getting their period, written by journalist Yumi Stynes and Melissa Kang, the longest-serving expert behind the ‘Dolly...

Big Sky Publishing lands 17-book US deal   

Thursday, 21 March 2019
Big Sky Publishing has sold North American and US territories rights to 17 children’s books to independent educational publishing house Rosen Publishing. The deal includes the picture book Cat Spies...

Multiple deals for Berbay

Thursday, 21 February 2019
Berbay Publishing has announced multiple rights deals over the past few months. The children’s publisher has sold North American and UK rights to Colours and two further board books by...

Australian fashion designer to create two picture books for Berbay

Thursday, 22 November 2018
Berbay Publishing has acquired world rights to two picture books by one of Australia’s most celebrated fashion designers Collette Dinnigan. Berbay publishing director Alexandra Yatomi-Clarke said Dinnigan’s ‘fashion collections have...

Book-to-screen

Tuesday, 16 October 2018
SLR Productions has commenced production on an animated telemovie based on Jacqueline Harvey’s ‘Alice-Miranda’ children’s book series (Random House Australia). The comedy-drama Alice Miranda Shines Bright will premiere on Australian...

‘Room on Our Rock’ sold into multiple territories

Thursday, 20 September 2018
Scholastic Australia has sold US, Japanese, German, French, Brazilian and Turkish rights to the picture book Room on Our Rock (Kate & Jol Temple, illus by Terri Rose Baynton). Exploring...

Bunting books sold to China

Thursday, 23 August 2018
Scholastic Australia has sold simplified Chinese rights to several quirky, humorous picture books by Australian husband-and-wife duo Laura and Philip Bunting. They include: Mopoke, Koalas Eat Gum Leaves and Kookaburras...

‘Totally unique graphic work’ sold to US

Thursday, 19 July 2018
Melbourne-based art-science collaborative and micro-publisher Scale Free Network (SPN) has sold North American rights to the graphic novel The Invisible War (Ailsa Wild, Briony Barr, Gregory Crocetti et al) to...

Random House acquires Elliot Perlman’s first kids’ book

Thursday, 17 May 2018
Random House Children’s Books has acquired the first children’s book by award-winning novelist Elliot Perlman (pictured). The Adventures of Catvinkle centres on the unlikely friendship between pampered house cat Catvinkle and Ula...

Debut picture book builds international buzz

Thursday, 15 February 2018
Scribble, has sold rights to two forthcoming children’s books: world rights (ex ANZ) to Antonia Pesenti’s board book Rhyme Cordial were sold to Phaidon ahead of its Australian release date in May,...

Two Shaun Tan books coming in 2018

Thursday, 16 November 2017
Award-winning author and illustrator Shaun Tan has two books coming out in 2018. Hachette Australia will publish Tan’s new picture book Cicada—about ‘a bug working in an office and all the...

Era Publications launches children’s reader series in China

Thursday, 21 September 2017
Era Publications, a family owned educational publisher with a focus on English-language teaching, has partnered with Chinese publisher New Century Publishing to publish 1.7 million copies of its ‘WINGS’ children’s...

New acquisitions for Affirm Press, Walker Books

Monday, 14 August 2017
Affirm Press has acquired a children’s fiction series by Australian lifeguard and TV star Trent ‘Maxi’ Maxwell. The series, co-written by children’s book author David Lawrence, will centre on ‘a...