Latest acquisitions: Children’s and YA
Christmas Press has acquired world rights to Leaf Letters, a junior fiction title by author-illustrator Lorena Carrington. Christmas Press publishing director Sophie Masson said, ‘Told in words and pictures, this is a story of friendship, the pleasures of the natural world, and the pleasures of mystery! Plus it’s an invitation for young readers to join in the fun through coded messages and puzzles to solve. What’s not to love?’ Leaf Letters will be published by Christmas Press in July 2024.
Fremantle Press and Alphabet Soup Books will co-publish a collection of poetry for middle readers, Right Way Down and other poems. Alphabet Soup Books publisher Rebecca Newman said the collection aims to ‘provide a fun way for young readers to access poetry, covering a variety of topics’. Right Way Down and other poems will be published in March 2024.
Hachette Australia has acquired world rights to the first two picture books in a new series by Gamilaroi man, ABC television presenter and former AFL player Tony Armstrong. Head of children’s publishing Jeanmarie Morosin, who acquired the titles, said that Armstrong’s creativity and humour ‘are well and truly on display in this magical picture book series’, which features Armstrong’s ‘thoughtful and unique take on the world’. The as-yet-untitled first book in the series is due to be published in May 2024.
Hachette Australia has acquired ANZ rights to a ‘dark fantasy trilogy’ by debut Australian author Tigest Girma, as part of a global deal alongside Hachette Children’s Group in the United Kingdom and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in the United States. In the series, Girma, an Ethiopian writer based in Melbourne, weaves in East African characters and lore ‘to bring a unique and decadent spin on vampires, introducing an elite secret university, a seductive romance, and ancient creatures of the night bound to 12 human houses that each represent a bloodline more cut-throat and competitive than the next’, according to the publisher. Immortal Dark will be published in September 2024.
MidnightSun Publishing has acquired world rights to a YA novel by Melbourne author Emily Brewin. The Two Sides of Grace tells the story of 16-year-old Grace who’s living alone under a bridge in Melbourne’s CBD. ‘You can tell how much research has gone into creating these vulnerable characters, making them feel very real,’ said MidnightSun publisher Anna Solding. ‘The Two Sides of Grace is a novel for teenagers and adults alike, about loneliness, despair and what it is like not knowing where your next meal will come from.’ The book is scheduled for publication in April 2024.
Pan Macmillan Australia has acquired ANZ rights to a new YA novel by Lauren Draper via literary agent Annabel Barker, with world English rights (ex ANZ) going to HarperTeen US, also via Barker. Return to Sender is a YA mystery/romance novel that tells the story of 17-year-old Brodie, who returns to her small town three years after she left, to live with her nan in one of the last remaining Dead Letter Offices: a place where letters go when no one claims them. Return to Sender is scheduled for publication in Australia and North America in mid-2024.
Pictured: Tigest Girma.
Category: Think Australian rights
