Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

UQP sells rights to ‘Edenglassie’ to Oneworld

University of Queensland Press (UQP) has sold world English (ex ANZ) and audio rights to Melissa Lucashenko’s Edenglassie to Oneworld Publications. The deal was struck between UQP rights and contacts manager Erin Sandiford and Oneworld publisher Juliet Mabey.

Already the recipient of eight prizes in Australia, Edenglassie tells the story of two generations of the same First Nations family, separated by hundreds of years but bound together by the legacy of colonial violence in Australia.

A Goorie (Aboriginal) author of Bundjalung and European heritage, Lucashenko said: ‘Edenglassie is a novel of fierce and compelling Aboriginal love. It’s also a missive from Aboriginal Country, speaking back to those who tried very hard to engineer our destruction. I wrote this novel of humour, heartbreak and joy to show that we are still here, and we love and live on ancestral lands as we always have. Edenglassie peels back the blankets to reveal Aboriginal lives few outsiders ever witness: the lives of the world’s oldest living culture, spanning five generations. I hope British publication will introduce new readers to Australia’s hidden Indigenous present, as well as to a hidden history.’

Mabey said: ‘I’ve been looking for a First Nations author for Oneworld’s slate of international fiction for a long time, and I’m so pleased to have found a voice as fresh, urgent and exciting as Melissa’s. Edenglassie is an unforgettable story about colonial exploitation and the resilience of the Indigenous community that had me gripped from its first page.’

UQP publishing director Madonna Duffy added: ‘Oneworld’s passionate and engaged response to Edenglassie make them the perfect international English-language home for this unique novel from one of Australia’s greatest contemporary writers.’

UQP previously sold French rights to Synchronique Éditions and simplified Chinese rights to The Writers Publishing House Co.

Edenglassie will be published as a superlead title by Oneworld in July 2025 in the UK, with US publication to follow in September. Publication will be supported by an ‘extensive’ author tour, exclusive editions for Waterstones, and signed first editions for independent bookshops. 

 

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions