While many Australian rights managers and literary agents will be missing the book fair halls (and bars and restaurants) of Bologna, they couldn’t be busier as in-person fairs have effectively been replaced by one year-long virtual fair. Still, it’s worth pausing ahead of this year’s online Bologna Children’s Book Fair to consider the current Australian children’s publishing scene.
In this issue we take a closer look at Australian YA Own Voices publishing—undoubtedly a category that is leading the way when it comes to this movement—and profile four small presses whose picture books are gaining international attention (including Australian Indigenous publisher Magabala Books).
As previously, this issue of Think Australian is being distributed by Publishers Weekly and BookBrunch. Look out for future issues ahead of the London and Frankfurt book fairs. For more information on Think Australian and to sign up directly, click here.
Andrea Hanke
Editor
Think Australian
thinkaustralian@booksandpublishing.com.au
 
As the Own Voices movement gains momentum around the world, Australian publishers have been filling their YA lists with diverse and exciting Own Voices titles.
In 2018 Fremantle Press published Meet Me at the Intersection, a YA anthology of short fiction, memoir and poetry by authors who are First Nations, people of colour, LGBTIQA+ or living with disability. One of the submissions—Jessica Walton’s short story about first love, set at a fantasy fiction convention and featuring disabled, queer characters—will soon be published as a graphic novel in collaboration with illustrator Aśka. Stars in Their Eyes (October 2021) shows its central character, Maisie, dealing with a disability and with chronic pain and anxiety. However, ‘it’s the relationships between the characters and the joy of finding people you connect with that are the real focus of the book’, says Fremantle Press CEO Jane Fraser.
Fraser sees value in the graphic novel form for its ability to show rather than tell at times. ‘We believe the form helps prevent the story from becoming didactic,’ she says. ‘There are a lot of layers and details in Stars in Their Eyes that are shown through the illustrations and this helps the momentum of the narrative. The details are there, they’re just not all explained in words. Sometimes showing rather than telling is powerful.’
Stars in Their Eyes is just one of several exciting new YA Own Voices novels currently being published in Australia—with international interest growing.
One of the lead titles on Allen & Unwin’s list is a queer Indigenous YA Own Voices love story. The Boy from the Mish by debut author Gary Lonesborough follows 17-year-old Jackson over a hot summer on the Mish (a former mission) and his relationship with the mysterious newcomer Tomas, and explores themes such as first love, identity and the power of self-belief. North American rights have already been sold to Scholastic. (‘It awed me with the power of its storytelling,’ said Scholastic editor and author David Levithan of the acquisition.)
Hardie Grant Children’s Books’ YA novel Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean Heartsick Blues by New Zealand author H S Valley (August 2021) has also attracted ‘an incredible amount of international interest’, reports the publisher. Pitched as a ‘very funny, very sexy Own Voices LGBTQ YA novel’, the story is set in a magical boarding school beneath a glacier in New Zealand, where Tim Te Maro and his nemesis, Elliott Parker, team up to do their school’s egg-baby assignment as a way to get back at their exes—only to fall for each other. ‘It’s an utterly captivating and uplifting novel, full of lust, love and laughs—and wonder-filled, swoon-worthy moments,’ says rights executive Madeleine Manifold.
Diverse voices
As well as being home to the world’s oldest continuing living cultures in diverse Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, Australia is also known for its diverse immigrant population, with one in four Australians born overseas. Two new YA Own Voices novels put Muslim Australian cultures in the spotlight.
The F Team by Rawah Arja (2020) tells the story of a group of Lebanese boys who participate in an interschool football tournament to try to save their Western Sydney school from being shut down. It’s published by Giramondo, a small press that has championed a number of talented writers from multicultural Western Sydney.
Giramondo commissioning editor Nick Tapper believes the novel has the potential to work well with international readers. ‘While in essence the book’s very local, set in Punchbowl and its Western Sydney surrounds, and centred on rugby league—the themes it explores, masculine anger and overcoming prejudice, as well as the warmth and humour of Rawah’s voice, will be unmistakeable wherever it’s read,’ says Tapper.
Published by Wakefield Press, Sunburnt Veils by Sara Haghdoosti (2021) is pitched as a ‘smart, funny, character-based exploration of Islamophobia’, with an opposites-attract romantic subplot. It tells the story of Tara, a Hijab-wearing med student who joins her university’s union after her backpack is called in as a bomb threat by a fellow student.
Do Own Voices stories travel?
Australia’s leading Indigenous publisher Magabala Books has been publishing Own Voices stories—from picture books through to adult titles—for over 30 years, and has seen a growing interest from international publishers in recent years. ‘Magabala is in a great position at the moment, as is Australian publishing in general, as local, national and international readers are wanting a broader range of diverse voices or experiences,’ says publisher Rachel Bin Salleh. Magabala’s current list includes the award-winning verse novel for younger readers Bindi by Kirli Saunders (illus by Dub Leffler).
However, Bin Salleh acknowledges that it has been difficult in the past to get international exposure for the publisher’s titles. ‘What we have found, even in the past with our small rights sales, is that it has to suit the right publishing house, and even though it may be culturally specific, it must have principles in common with many cultures and a universal message,’ she says.
Fraser also notes that while there is a ‘huge interest’ in Own Voices stories in Australia, with strong local sales for Fremantle Press titles such as Sally Morgan’s Sister Heart and Holden Sheppard’s Invisible Boys, most international publishers are ‘focused on Own Voices stories from their own regions and writers at this stage’. ‘However,’ she says, ‘Stars in Their Eyes has garnered keen interest from multiple international publishers, so watch this space.’
Four Australian small presses—Windy Hollow Books, Berbay Publishing, Magabala Books and Fremantle Press—are taking their picture books to the world.
The world is starting to take notice of Windy Hollow Books. Last year the Melbourne-based small press won the Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publisher of the Year in the Oceania region, with the award’s organisers praising the publisher’s ‘high quality illustrated books’ and collaborations with established and emerging artists. The Bologna Prize—which publisher Cristina Pase said at the time was likely to ‘help open many doors for us internationally’—follows Windy Hollow’s first North American sale in 2019, with its picture book Ivy Bird (Tania McCartney, illus by Jess Racklyeft) selling to Blue Dot Books.
This year, Pase is particularly excited to be pitching All Dogs Bark by Catherine Meatheringham and Deb Hudson, which examines different dogs and their barks all around the world. ‘This book has a great international flavour to it, which we hope will appeal to a foreign rights market,’ says Pase. ‘It also represents the joy and positivity we like to bring to our books. We try to focus on stories that are fun and child-centred while also having subtle opportunities for learning.’
Fellow Melbourne-based small press (and Bologna Prize winner in 2017) Berbay Publishing has built an impressive list of local and international children’s books over the years. The publisher has also sold many of its titles overseas, most notably the ‘Heads and Tails’ series by John Canty and paper-cut artist Chihiro Takeuchi’s picture books.
‘Berbay achieves what at face value seems to be a paradox; that is, creating books with universal appeal but also books that are unique and stand out amongst others,’ says marketing and PR manager Ellie Clitheroe.
One of the highlights on Berbay’s current list is Gabriel Evans’ Norton and the Bear, which has been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards. ‘This picture book taps into every child’s least favourite form of admiration—copying. Gabriel has a real gift for speaking to kids about their worries in a way that is engaging and full of humour,’ says Clitheroe.
Based outside of the traditional Sydney–Melbourne centre of publishing, Western Australia’s Magabala Books and Fremantle Press are two small publishing houses with particularly strong children’s picture book lists.
Australia’s leading Indigenous publishing house, Magabala Books has recently begun working with a rights agency to capitalise on the growing interest in more diverse voices, selling North American rights to its picture book Little Bird’s Day (Sally Morgan, illus by Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr) earlier this year. Its latest picture book list includes Ambelin Kwaymullina’s Billie and the Blue Bike, a ‘fun and engaging way to introduce young children to financial literacy knowledge’, and Sally Morgan’s board book Welcome, Child!, a ‘beautiful and heartfelt celebration of the love we feel for a new child’.
Fremantle Press’ picture books have also found favour with international publishers, with overseas sales for Morgan’s board book I Love Me (illus by Ambelin Kwaymullina), Moira Court’s Antarctica, and Kelly Canby’s picture books The Hole Story, Rodney and Littlelight, among others. This year the publisher has high hopes for Court’s At the Dog Park, which ‘captures all the fun and diversity of the dog park’, with illustrations created from layered woodblock prints, screen-printing and collage, and Shine by Danny Parker and Ruth de Vos, which follows a large family through their day and ‘celebrates the beauty and joy of everyday family life’.
 
A charming story about the importance of gardens, grandparents and families doing things together.
When our dads say, ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees you know,’ Grandma smiles and says, ‘Mmm, but knickers do.’
WHAT?! Grandma’s got an underpants tree? She sure has and you know what else? It blooms all year round with all kinds of knickers to suit everyone in the family. But one morning, Grandma finds her precious tree has been attacked, with knickers strewn all over the garden. Grandpa and the grandkids spring into action, setting up an after dark stakeout. Will the kids be able to stay awake long enough to find out whodunnit?
Grandma’s Knicker Tree
Author: Barbie Robinson and Ian Robertson
Publisher: For Pity Sake Publishing
Rights held for book: World
Contact: Jennifer McDonald
Email: j.mcdonald@forpitysake.com.au
Website: For Pity Sake Publishing
Ellie Marsden was born into the legendary Lovinger acting dynasty. Granddaughter of the infamous Lottie Lovinger, as a child Ellie shared the silver screen with Lottie in her one-and-only role playing the child monster in a cult horror movie. The experience left Ellie deeply traumatised and estranged from people she loved. Now 17, Ellie has returned home to Hobart for the first time in years. Lottie is dying and Ellie wants to make peace with her before it’s too late. When a chance encounter with a young film buff leads her to a feminist horror film collective, Ellie meets Riya, a girl who she might be able to show her real self to, and at last comes to understand her family’s legacy.
The Monster of Her Age
Author: Danielle Binks
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Rights held for book: World, ex-ANZ
Contact: Jacinta di Mase
Email: jacinta@jacintadimase.com.au
Website: Jacinta di Mase Management
Catalogue available here.
A vintage children’s story written and illustrated by Bettina Ehrlich.
Miss Patricia Higgins’ painting holiday in a picturesque Italian fishing village isn’t going according to plan. As soon as her easel is set up, the local children gather around asking her to paint their portraits. Hoping to avoid the crowds, Miss Higgins goes out very early one morning. This time she encounters only one child, Arturo ‘Sardines’ Camuffo, who says that he doesn’t want a portrait of himself. He’d rather Miss Higgins painted a picture of his friend, the bronze angel sitting atop the church spire. How does the son of a poor local fisherman become friends with a huge statue of an angel? For the price of three ice cream cones, Miss Higgins is about to find out.
Sardines and the Angel
Author: Bettina Ehrlich
Publisher: For Pity Sake Publishing
Rights held for book: World
Contact: Jennifer McDonald
Email: j.mcdonald@forpitysake.com.au
Website: For Pity Sake Publishing
Shine is a love song between a parent and a child, celebrating the beauty and joy of everyday family life, through mess and chaos and daily routines. This is a story that seeks to find the beauty in ordinary things: the wonder of a lazy afternoon and the joy of being together. It puts into words and images that spark of connection that we have with each other. Set in the home, this is the perfect read-aloud for families who are spending more time in their own houses than ever before.
Shine
Author: Danny Parker and Ruth de Vos
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Rights held for book: World
Contact: Jane Fraser, CEO and rights manager, Fremantle Press
Email: jfraser@fremantlepress.com.au
Website: Fremantle Press Children’s Picture Books
Catalogue available here.
Stella wants to be an astronaut. There is only one problem: Stella is an elephant. Every time she applies to Space Command, they come up with a new reason she can’t join. But where there’s a will, there’s a way and Stella is determined to reach for the stars. Does she have the right stuff? With space exploration in the headlines worldwide, this is a timely story about having the courage to follow your dreams. With themes like persistence, diversity, equality and accessibility, award-winning author James Foley once again shows us that heroes come in all shapes, sizes and species.
Stellarphant
Author: James Foley
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Rights held for book: World, ex USA
Contact: Jane Fraser, CEO and rights manager, Fremantle Press
Email: jfraser@fremantlepress.com.au
Website: Fremantle Press Children’s Picture Books
Catalogue available here.
Tara wears hijab even though her parents hate it, and in a swipe right world she’s looking for the ‘will go to the ends of the earth for you’ type of love. Or, she would be, if she hadn’t sworn off boys to focus on getting into med. Besides, what’s wrong with just crushing on the assassins, mages and thieves in the fantasy books she reads? When a bomb threat on her first day of university throws her together with totally annoying party king and oh-so-entitled politician’s son Alex, things get complicated. Tara needs to decide if she’s happy reading about heroes, or if she’s ready to step up and be one herself.
Sunburnt Veils
Author: Sara Haghdoosti
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Rights held for book: World ex-ANZ
Contact: Jacinta di Mase
Email: jacinta@jacintadimase.com.au
Website: Jacinta di Mase Management
Catalogue available here.
A number of Australian children’s picture books have been sold into international markets over the past few months, including a North American sale for Indigenous publisher Magabala Books.
Magabala Books has sold North American rights to Little Bird’s Day (Sally Morgan, illus by Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr) to Blue Dot Books via Natasha Solomun at The Rights Hive. The 2019 picture book—the first collaboration between the well-known author and emerging illustrator—tells ‘a simple, universal story of a day in the life of Little Bird as she sings the world alive, flies with Cloud, travels with Wind, nestles with Moon and dreams of flying among the stars’. ‘Sally’s gentle words and Johnny’s intricate artwork combine to make this a beautiful, distinctive publication with global appeal,’ said the publisher.
Literary agent Jacinta di Mase has sold North American rights to We Love You, Magoo! by Briony Stewart (Puffin)—a rhyming picture book about a loveable dog who is still learning the rules—to Kira Lynn at Kane Miller via Annabel Barker Agency and Jacinta di Mase Management. A follow-up, Where Are You, Magoo?, will be published in Australia later this year.
Affirm Press has sold world Portuguese rights to The Ultimate Survival Guide to Monsters Under the Bed (Mitch Frost, illus by Daron Parton)—a humorous, step-by-step guide to a classic childhood fear—to Leya; Walker Books has licensed Dutch co-edition rights to How to Make a Bird (Meg McKinlay, illus by Matt Ottley)—‘a moving and visually stunning picture book that celebrates the transformative power of the creative process’—to Standaard Uitgeverij; and Scholastic Australia has sold Turkish rights to Joe and the Stars (Phil Cummings, illus by Connah Brecon, 2021), the story of a young boy who moves to the city only to discover the stars that he loves to watch are much harder to see. In children’s nonfiction, Hardie Grant has sold North American rights to Sophie Beer’s picture book for little activists, Change Starts With Us.
In middle-grade fiction, UQP has sold UK rights to Peter Carnavas’ My Brother Ben (October 2021)—a moving story of sibling bonds from the author of the award-winning, internationally published children’s book The Elephant—to Pushkin Press, and Hachette has sold German translation rights to Wednesday Weeks and the Tower of Shadows by Denis Knight and Cristy Burne—the first title in a new fantasy middle-grade series—to Arena-Verlag. ‘Combining magic, science and an unforgettable female protagonist, the Wednesday Weeks series has the potential to become an international middle-grade sensation,’ said the publisher.
Text Publishing has acquired world rights to the second YA novel by Holden Sheppard, in a two-book deal via Gaby Naher of Left Bank Literary. The Brink (2022) follows a group of teenagers ‘who become embroiled in a murder when their Leavers celebrations turn sinister’. ‘With brilliantly realised characters and a crackling sense of urgency, The Brink represents teenage experience, particularly that of LGBTQIA+ teens, with striking acuity.’
Sheppard’s debut YA novel Invisible Boys was published by Fremantle Press in 2019 and went on to win multiple awards. A TV adaptation of the novel is currently in development. World rights (ex ANZ) are available from Fremantle Press.
Hachette Australia has acquired ANZ rights to a middle-grade series by children’s book author Kate Temple—‘a superstar with many, many little fans’—from Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. The first book in the series of the same name, The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffat (2022), follows ‘a girl who finds herself alone in an antique shop on the edge of time with a very useful key and a very dead relative. It’s full of dark secrets, rude cats and some despicably bad characters.’ Hachette Australia head of children’s publishing Jeanmarie Morosin said the new series ‘has all the hallmarks of a middle-grade classic’.
After joining the rights team at Penguin Random House Australia three years ago, Jordan Meek now manages the publisher’s children’s rights in translation markets. She spoke to Think Australian.
How did you get into rights management?
It was luck that I stumbled into the world of selling rights. I was a fresh Masters of Publishing graduate, who had interned at multiple publishing houses and worked at Dymocks. I could have gone to any department at this point, but when I saw the job advertised for rights administrator, I’ll admit it piqued my interest. Rights isn’t a very well-known department, and we certainly didn’t cover it much in class. Always up for a challenge, and the fact I had shadowed the rights manager at Pantera Press for a day, I decided I knew enough to apply (I really didn’t). Thankfully, Nerrilee Weir saw something in me and here I am, three years later, handling our children’s rights in translation markets!
What do you love most about your job?
It’s very easy to say ‘the books!’ but when I think about what I do on a daily basis, the best thing about this job is the variety of roles we take on. One minute I’m wearing my best rights seller/pitching hat, and the next I’m facilitating interviews for authors, or negotiating clauses in contracts, among other things. It keeps you on your toes and there’s never a dull moment! You get to meet such incredible people who are equally passionate about children’s books. I’m definitely a huge ‘rights nerd’, I love hearing about what books are topping bestseller lists around the world, how much Netflix and Amazon are paying for book-to-film adaptions, and talking to our co-agents, scouts and foreign publishers about what’s working in their market and why other genres don’t work as much.
What titles are you currently pitching?
We’re pitching our frontlist 2021 titles, and circling back to our 2020 recently published titles. We’ve seen an increase in interest in backlist series, and are focusing on gathering the necessary materials to pitch these as well. So … everything!
What have been your biggest rights successes over the past year?
We’ve had two standout successes over the past year. Our nonfiction title Terry Denton’s Really Truly Amazing Guide to Everything by Terry Denton has sold into eight territories! And our incredibly beautiful picture book Bear and Rat by Christopher Cheng and Stephen Michael King had seven pre-publication deals, with more to come!
Which title or author on your list do you believe deserves greater recognition overseas?
I have a huge soft spot for Jess McGeachin’s picture books. His balance between beautifully written stories and the warmth of his illustrations makes you want to wrap yourself up in his stories. Frankie and the Fossil is the newest title, and it makes me want a cheese sandwich, and my own dinosaur fossil as a pet.
How has Covid-19 changed the ways you make contacts and sell rights?
Covid-19 has strengthened our relationships with our co-agents, scouts and publishers all around the world. We’re able to jump on a Zoom call (given the time differences works in our favour!) with our colleagues and talk about our list from the comfort of our own homes. However, it has made creating new contacts harder, as there’s no in-person networking opportunities. We’ve been attending the online networking events that the Australian Publishers Association has been facilitating, and we have gone back to old-school cold-call emailing publishers and editors directly to set up virtual meetings.
What are you currently reading?
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni. It’s fantastic! If you like stories about surviving against all odds, intense trials where failure means immediate death, morally grey characters, mysterious love interests, and magic—then this book is for you!
Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s ‘Treehouse’ series—which celebrates 10 years in print this year—has topped the Australian children’s fiction chart (The 130-Storey Treehouse) and Australian children’s/YA nonfiction chart (The Treehouse Joke Book 2) for the year-to-date. It’s one of several children’s book series charting strongly in the first four months of the year.
In Australian children’s picture books, Bluey—the popular children’s television series that has turned into a publishing phenomenon—continues to dominate the market. In the charts below we’ve excluded Bluey books in order to showcase a greater variety of titles. However, if we were to include the series, there would be seven Bluey titles in the top 10 picture books and three in the top 10 children’s fiction—accounting for 300,000 copies in total.
Also making an impressive showing in the charts are Anh Do and Lynette Noni. Do has seven titles from four different series in the Australian children’s fiction chart, while Noni has four from three, including the chart-topping The Prison Healer, the first instalment in the author’s newest YA fantasy trilogy.
Australian picture books YTD*
- Where Is the Green Sheep? (Mem Fox, illus by Judy Horacek, Puffin)
- Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes (Mem Fox, illus by Helen Oxenbury, Puffin)
- Do Not Open This Book Ever (Andy Lee, illus by Heath McKenzie, Lake Press)
- Give Me Some Space (Philip Bunting, Omnibus Books)
- Welcome, Baby, to This World! (Jess Racklyeft, Affirm Press)
- Where’s the Golden Egg? (Bill Hope, Scholastic Australia)
- Back to Sleep (Zoë Foster Blake, Puffin)
- Where’s Easter Bunny (Louis Shea, Scholastic Australia)
- Kissed by the Moon (Alison Lester, Random House Australia)
- All the Ways to be Smart (Davina Bell, illus by Allison Colpoys, Scribble)
*excluding Bluey titles
Australian children’s fiction YTD*
- The 130-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Pan Australia)
- Ninja Toys! #7: Ninja Kid (Anh Do, Scholastic Australia)
- The Traitor: Wolf Girl 4 (Anh Do, Allen & Unwin)
- Into the Wild: Wolf Girl 1 (Anh Do, Allen & Unwin)
- Tasty Weird #16: Weirdo (Anh Do, Scholastic Australia)
- The Great Escape: Wolf Girl 2 (Anh Do, Allen & Unwin)
- The Secret Cave: Wolf Girl 3 (Anh Do, Allen & Unwin)
- Robofight: E-Boy 2 (Anh Do, Allen & Unwin)
- Bad Guys Episode 12: Bad Guys (Aaron Blabey, Scholastic Australia)
- The 13-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Pan Australia)
*excluding Bluey titles
Australian YA fiction bestsellers YTD
- The Prison Healer (Lynette Noni, Penguin Books Australia)
- The Boy from the Mish (Gary Lonesborough, Allen & Unwin)
- The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (Garth Nix, Allen & Unwin)
- Whisper and Weapon Bind-up (Lynette Noni, Pantera Press)
- Akarnae: Medoran Chronicles Book 1 (Lynette Noni, Pantera Press)
- The Other Side of the Sky (Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner, Allen & Unwin)
- None Shall Sleep (Ellie Marney, Allen & Unwin)
- The Secret Runners of New York (Matthew Reilly, Macmillan Australia)
- Aurora Rising: The Aurora Cycle 1 (Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff, Allen & Unwin)
- Raelia: Medoran Chronicles Book 2 (Lynette Noni, Pantera Press)
Australian children’s/YA nonfiction YTD
- The Treehouse Joke Book 2 (Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Pan Australia)
- Girl Stuff 8-12 (Kaz Cooke, Viking)
- Australia (Pete Cromer, Five Mile)
- The Treehouse Joke Book (Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Pan Australia)
- Penguin Bloom (Young Readers’ Edition) Chris Kunz, Harry Cripps & Sha Grant, ABC Books)
- Unbinders: Origami Anything! (Matthew Gardiner, Hinkler Books)
- Young Dark Emu (Bruce Pascoe, Magabala Books)
- The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals (Sami Bayly, Lothian)
- Terry Denton’s Really Truly Amazing Guide to Everything (Terry Denton, Puffin)
- Be Your Own Man (Jess Sanders, Five Mile).
© Nielsen BookScan 2021
Period covered: 3 January 2021 to 1 May 2021
Data supplied by Nielsen BookScan’s book sales monitoring system from 1500 retailers nationwide
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