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Adult Trade News
May 2017
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Dear Friends,

Happy Spring! For those of you that have not yet seen our Spring 2017/London Book Fair Catalogue find it here: Transatlanticagency.com/LondonCat17. All requests welcome.

We have been working hard over the winter months and hope you enjoy the round-up below of new deals, bestsellers, rave reviews and new clients.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

All best wishes ,

 
 
New Deal Announcements 
 
CANADIAN AND NORTH AMERICAN DEALS 

Fiction:

North American rights to Journey Prize winner Naben Ruthnum's, writing as Nathan Ripley, debut thriller FIND YOU IN THE DARK, reminiscent of The Talented Mr. Ripley with elements of Red Dragon and the hit series Dexter, which follows the story of Martin Reese, a family man whose obsessive need to right the past by digging up the undiscovered skeletal remains of serial killer victims is about to lead to a terrifyingly real encounter with a killer who is very much alive, sold in a two-book deal, at auction, in a six-figure deal, to Rakesh Satyal of Atria and Laurie Grassi of Simon & Schuster Canada by Samantha Haywood & Stephanie Sinclair. TV/film rights sold in a pre-empt to eOne by Dana Spector of Paradigm Agency. Contact: stephanie@transatlanticagency.com

Amanda Leduc Canada English rights to THE CENTAUR'S WIFE by Amanda Leduc to Anne Collins, Publisher of Random House Canada for Spring/Summer 2018. In the tradition of Station Eleven and The Leftovers, a dark and exciting post-apocalyptic story about despair, redemption, and magic. Starting the day after asteroids hit the planet, THE CENTAUR'S WIFE follows a ragtag group of people with mysterious connections to centaurs living in a nearby mountain - centaurs whose magic might just teach the others to navigate a world that is dying and being reborn all at once. World rights ex Canada and TV/film available. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com


Non-Fiction:

World English rights to WAG: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy by dog trainer and popular Companion Animal Psychology blogger Zazie Todd, a research-based examination of everything from canine sleep to eating to play, for the readers of Inside of a Dog and The Other End of the Leash, to Greystone Books. Contact: trena@transatlanticagency.com

World rights to LOST FEAST: A Requiem for Extinct Foods by Canada Research Chair in Food Security and Environment Lenore Newman, examining a series of extinct foods now lost to our insatiable human appetite, and shedding light on which beloved foods we will struggle to protect in the future, to Susan Renouf at ECW Press. Contact: trena@transatlanticagency.com
 
Foreign Rights Sales:

Marissa Stapley German rights to THINGS TO DO WHEN IT'S RAINING in a three book deal by bestselling author Marissa Stapley sold at auction in a six figure deal to Silke Jellinghaus at Wunderlich, Rowohlt, rights previously to Nita Pronovost at Simon & Schuster Canada and Brittany Lavery at Graydon House for U.S. and U.K., publishing Spring 2018 by Hannah Fosh at Liepman Agency on behalf of Samantha Haywood. For readers of Jojo Moyes and Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney comes a poignant generational story about Mae Summers and Gabe Broadbent, childhood best friends and sweethearts who are reunited as adults at the idyllic Summers' Inn and dealing with aging parents, heartbreak and secrets that will either bring them together or forever leave them as two islands. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com


Film Deals:

Television and film option rights to author Zoe Whittall's Giller Prize-shortlisted novel THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE - in which a local schoolteacher is arrested for a heinous crime, leaving his family to wrestle with the possibility of his guilt - reveals the cracks along the seams of even the most perfect American family - to acclaimed director Sarah Polley by Dana Spector of Paradigm on behalf of Samantha Haywood. Hodder U.K., Spring 17, Ballantine U.S., Fall 2017. World rights with House of Anansi. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com

Media News:

Kathleen Ernst's A MEMORY OF MUSKETS, book 7 in the best-selling Chloe Ellefson Mysteries series, will be the featured book on Wisconsin Public Radio's Chapter A Day program, which reaches over 300,000 listeners in the mid-West. Host Jim Fleming will be reading his own abridgement of the book to be broadcast in July. The series is published by Midnight Ink, audiobooks by Tantor Media, and represented by Fiona Kenshole.
Drawn & Quarterly Deals


Masterpiece Comics Russian rights to R Sikoryak's MASTERPIECE COMICS to Vvedenskaya.

Russian rights to R Sikoryak's SUPERMUTANT MAGIC ACADEMY to Vvedenskaya.








French language world rights to THE ABOMINABLE MR. SEABROOK by Joe Ollman sold to Presque Lune Editions.

It's a Good Life if you Don't Weaken Macedonian rights to Seth's IT'S A GOOD LIFE IF YOU DON'T WEAKEN sold to Templum Publishing.

French rights sold to Tom Gauld's highly anticipated new book BAKING WITH KAFKA, a collection of 100 new comics to Editions Alto and 2024, U.K. rights previously sold to Canongate.


Awards and Citations 

Congratulations to Sandra Martin, whose book A GOOD DEATH (HarperCollins Canada) has been shortlisted for the 2016/17 Donner Prize and the john W. Dafoe Book Prize!

Congratulations to Rebecca Rosenblum on her debut novel SO MUCH LOVE (McClelland & Stewart) being named a finalist for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award!







Congratulations to Zarqa Nawaz on LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE MOSQUE being selected as Amnesty International Book Club's pick for March/April 2017!







And proud to say our following authors have hit the Canadian national bestseller lists over the past months:

THEY LEFT US EVERYTHING by Plum Johnson

THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE by Zoe Whittall

BASEBALL LIFE ADVICE by Stacey May Fowles

OPEN HEART, OPEN MIND by Clara Hughes

MITZI BYTES by Kerry Clare

Rave Reviews

Praise for Emily Schultz's MEN WALKING ON WATER (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, Knopf, April 2017). Contact shaun@transatlanticagency.com
  • iBooks Pick for March
  • Kobo Pick for March
"a terrifically devised and thoroughly entertaining caper" -National Post 

"a complex and languidly vivid story of a ragtag crew of 1920s rum-runners in Prohibition-era Detroit. Reading it is like watching slow-moving noir - but it only takes a moment for each character to come to life as he or she is introduced. I knew when I turned the final page that Schultz had accomplished something great, had proven there was nothing she couldn't do."
-Toronto Star

"Schultz has flirted with the paranormal and outrageous satire in previous books, but her new novel, Men Walking On Water , has a very different vibe. It's Prohibition, and the repercussions of a car accident ricochet through the smuggling community. Packed with details about rum-running and the perils of the 18th Amendment, the novel sheds light on the ways desperation fuels deceit when it comes to both business and personal relationships. Give yourself a chunk of time - this is a real page-turner." -NOW Magazine

"[Schultz's] ­playful streak shows in her new novel, Men Walking on Water, a witty, suspense-filled epic about the waning days of Prohibition. When a rum-runner disappears in the Detroit River, his wife takes over his bootlegging ­business and tangos with a corrupt reverend, a crazed ex-soldier and greedy gangsters. Schultz spins the tale into a sweeping story of American ideals on the cusp of the Great Depression."  -Toronto Life



Advance praise for Pauline Dakin's RUN. HIDE. REPEAT. (World Rights Available Ex: North American, Penguin Books Canada, August 2017). Contact shaun@transatlanticagency.com:


"What happens when 'Fake News' takes over your family? This harrowing true story reads like a psychological thriller - I was haunted by it." - PLUM JOHNSON, winner of the 2015 RBC Taylor Prize for Non Fiction for They Left Us Everything




Praise for Stacey May Fowles' BASEBALL LIFE ADVICE (World Rights Available Ex: English language in Canada and the United States, McClelland & Stewart, April 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"This is beautiful. Stacey has used her own experiences at the ballpark to reveal what each and every fan has felt but didn't know why. She captures what we all love about the game." 
-Buck Martinez, author of Change Up and the play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays 

"Fowles' writing about her love of the game and the role of baseball in her life is honest, funny, touching, detailed, and charming. You do not need to be a sports fan or a baseball fan to enjoy this book; it is for anyone who appreciates beautiful writing, who has struggled to find their place in this world, or who has loved anything more than they can explain." 
-Jessica Luther, author of Unsportsmanlike Conduct

"By bringing a fresh voice to an old, staid game, everything seems new again..." -Publishers Weekly

"...a perspective that's all too rare." -The New York Times

"Drawing on the triumphs, traumas, and team dynamics of baseball, she offers deep insights into our own lives." -an ibooks Best Book of the Month for April 


Praise for Clea Young's TEARDOWN (World Rights Available Ex: Canada English, Freehand Books, Spring 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"The titles of Clea Young's stories often turn on ambiguity. In the title story, the "teardown" is the rental awaiting demolition where a young couple is living, but it also refers to the temporarily shaky structure of their marriage while awaiting the birth of their first child." 
-The Toronto Star

"Clea Young's debut short-story collection has that fantastic quality of making the reader feel as though they are exploring their own memories, even when the details couldn't be more different from their own reality. In Teardown, Young captures the deceptively benign experiences in the lives and relationships of a diverse cast of characters, and reveals the unexpected gravity of those fleeting moments."  -Broken Pencil

"Young's formal accomplishments here are strong, but the true power of these stories lies in how she zeroes in on the desperation particular to a generation arriving at that moment when the weight of that ego tips the scales from mostly pleasure to mostly suffering, with no roadmap for how to move beyond." -The Winnipeg Review

"This book's captivating tales show characters in the last throes of nostalgia and regret for the heady joys and miseries of youth, awkwardly adjusting to unambiguous adulthood and approaching middle age." -Alberta Views Magazine


Praise for Kerry Clare's MITZI BYTES (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, HarperCollins, Spring 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"Entertaining, engaging and timely, Mitzi Bytes is a pleasure to read from start to finish."  -The Toronto Star

"makes us rethink what it means to be a mother, daughter, husband, and friend, and places the book directly within the current conversation about parenting in the 21st century."  -Quill and Quire



Praise for Rebecca Rosenblum's SO MUCH LOVE (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, McClelland & Stewart; Poland, PRÓSZYŃSKI). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"a beautiful package that reads as seamless." -Kerry Clare, Pickle Me This 

" So Much Love is a thrilling literary fiction that is captivating and well-written. The strong-willed main character and Canadian setting make this novel intriguing and interesting. The theme is one that is not easy to read, but the wonderful story telling makes this book a must-read."  -The Candid Cover

"Her debut novel, So Much Love, approaches its subject and tells its characters' stories with so much heart and sharp efficiency that you can sit down with it for a day and feel a shift in the way you look at life. You will not want to put it down..."  -The Globe and Mail


Praise for Cary Fagan's THE OLD WORLD (World Rights to House of Anansi, Spring 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com

"This is Fagan at the top of his game. Simply put, he's a master storyteller and wordsmith who almost never takes a misstep. Although he doesn't often reach for large dramatic themes, he's adept at burnishing the small dramatic and comic ironies of human existence until they shine like stars." -Canadian Jewish News

"Fagan breathes life back into forgotten relics of an older age, stepping in where the original photographers are unable, telling their stories with understated emotion that is deep with hidden meanings. It's a collection that is by turns charming, funny, and sad - just like any collection of randomly selected photos is sure to be." -The National Post

"Deftly marrying vision and language with memory and imagination, Fagan paints an intimate portrait of forgotten lives that is profound, generous, and highly entertaining." 
-49th Shelf

"Clever and funny." -Quill & Quire


Marissa Stapley Advance praise for Marissa Stapley's THINGS TO DO WHEN IT'S RAINING (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, Simon & Schuster; U.S. & U.K., Graydon House; Germany, Rowohlt). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

" Things to Do When It's Raining is the complex and moving saga of a non-traditional family with deep bonds and even deeper secrets. Set against the idyllic background of a far-flung seaside town, the finely-drawn characters of this novel test the limits of friendship, love, and forgiveness. A story that lingers long after the final page is turned." 
-Andrea Dunlop, author of Losing the Light


Praise for Sarah Faber's ALL IS BEAUTY NOW (World Rights Available Ex English U.S., Little Brown, and Company; Canada English, McClelland & Stewart). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"At first blush a deft, kaleidoscopic chronicle of a family's grief after the disappearance of a 20-year-old daughter off the shores of Rio de Janeiro, All Is Beauty Now is an unflinching look at the pervasive effect of secreted mental illness. Like the brilliant swirl of Carnival, the Maurer family's story possesses multiple layers of both splendor and affliction. I lost myself in its white sands, birds of paradise, and madness."  -Anne Korkeakivi, author of The Shining Sea


Praise for Leesa Dean's WAITING FOR THE CYCLONE (World Rights to Brindle and Glass, Fall 2016). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"...a promising new author." -Publisher's Weekly







Praise for Iain Reid's I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (World Rights Available Ex: Scout Press, S&S U.S.; S&S Canada; Text Publishing U.K. & A.N.Z.; [simultaneous publication in English in June 2016], Prometheus, The Netherlands; Rocco Brazil; Presses de la Cite, France; HaKursa, Israel; Lindhardt og Ringhof, Denmark; Droemer, Germany; Teas, Turkey; Prosznski, Poland and WeLearn, Thailand). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"This is the most unsettling book I have ever read...deliciously sinister, dark, and harrowing." -Book Riot


Praise for Lori McNulty's LIFE ON MARS (World Rights Available Ex: English Canada, Goose Lane Editions, Spring 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"That terseness, the condensed scene, the quick-shift to the next event - all of these are what set McNulty's writing apart from that of so many others. Dialogue and description seem to fly almost breathlessly across the pages. It's no wonder her stories have been nominated for the prestigious Journey Prize, the award for best short story by an emerging writer." -The Vancouver Sun

New Clients
 

Kim Bolan 

Award-winning investigative reporter Kim Bolan covers gangs and organized crime for Vancouver Sun, where she has worked since 1984. She also runs the popular blog The Real Scoop, [link: Vancouversun.com/staff-blogs/real-scoop] which averages 150,000 readers a month. Bolan has covered the biggest criminal cases in Canadian history, from the Air India bombing to serial killer Robert Pickton to the Surrey Six gangland slayings. Her work over the years has taken her to wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central America and repeatedly to northern India to expose the roots of Canadian Sikh extremism and investigate the 1985 Air India bombing. Her book on the bombing, Loss of Faith: How the Air India Bombers Got Away with Murder, won the Dafoe Book Prize and was a finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize and the Edna Staebler Award. Bolan has won or been shortlisted for more than thirty provincial, national, and international journalism awards during her career. She is also a Journalism Instructor at Langara College, where she teaches Media and the Law, Media and Society and Investigative Reporting.

Represented by Trena White, trena@transatlanticagency.com.

Lisa Bolton

Lisa Bolton is a freelance food writer, stylist and photographer. She is the creative mind behind the successful blog Food Well Said, a space dedicated to thoughtfully presented and wholesomely prepared meals and recipes. Lisa's work has appeared in the Huffington Post, Redbook, and Canadian Living. She is a former contributor to the Queen Latifah Show and she continues to write monthly columns on the topics of 20 minute meals and food styling. Lisa holds a masters degree in business and is currently working on her first cookbook. She lives in British Columbia with her husband and son.

Represented by Jesse Finkelstein, jesse@transatlanticagency.com

Scott Chantler 

Scott Chantler is the acclaimed creator of the graphic memoir Two Generals, which was nominated for two Eisner Awards, named one of Chapters-Indigo's Best Books of 2010, selected for Best American Comics 2012, and voted by CBC's Canada Reads as one of the 40 best Canadian non-fiction books of all time. His other work includes Northwest Passage (nominated for Eisner and Harvey Awards) and the Three Thieves series (winner of the Joe Shuster Award for Best Comic for Kids and listed by YALSA as a Great Graphic Novel for Teens). He recently served as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Windsor, the first cartoonist to be appointed so by a Canadian university.

Represented by Samantha Haywood, samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

Helen Epstein 

Helen Epstein is the author, co-author or translator of ten books of literary non-fiction. They include the ground-breaking Children of the Holocaust, one of the first books to examine the inter-generational transmission of trauma; the biography Joe Papp: An American Life; and the memoir Where She Came From: A Daughter's Search for Her Mother's History. All were named New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Her journalism has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, New York, The New Yorker, ARTnews and other magazines. She now reviews books regularly for the New England online magazine The Arts Fuse. Epstein was the first tenured women professor of journalism at New York University and in 2010, she co-founded Plunkett Lake Press eBooks which re-issues classics of non-fiction in electronic form. 

Represented by Samantha Haywood, samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

Luma Mufleh

Luma Mufleh is the CEO and Founding Director of Fugees Family, Inc., a nonprofit organization that uses the power of soccer, education and community to empower refugee children to successfully integrate into the United States. Luma is a 2016 Top 10 CNN Hero whose story has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, ESPN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, Forbes and more. According to Tom Brokaw, the Fugees are "a perfect example of what this nation is supposed to be about, which is to provide a refuge for the refugees."

The Fugees' story began in 2004, when Luma took a wrong turn while driving through the town of Clarkston, Georgia and noticed a group of boys playing soccer in the street. She learned that these children were refugees from war-town countries including Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Burma, Somalia and Sudan. That summer, Luma made fliers announcing tryouts for the Fugees soccer team. In the years that followed, the soccer team grew into something much larger - a school, a tutoring program, a summer camp, a college prep program, and, most importantly, a community and support network.

A lifelong social entrepreneur, Luma has created programs and initiatives that have gainfully employed, educated and empowered refugees and immigrants, with the Fugees Academy serving as a national model for refugee education. While only 20 percent of refugee students graduate from high school in Georgia's DeKalb County, the Fugees Academy has a 90 percent graduation rate. These types of results helped earn Luma the 2016 Cournelle Award for Social Entrepreneurship from the Manhattan Institute.

A Jordanian immigrant and Muslim of Syrian descent, Luma received her U.S. citizenship in 2011. Her story - and the story of the Fugees - illustrates both the American dream and the very real challenges of integration and discrimination that so many face today. Luma received her B.A. in Anthropology from Smith College and recently completed the Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. 

Represented by Andrea Cascardi, andrea@transatlanticagency.com.

Dr. Christian Smith 

Dr. Christian Smith is a research scientist specializing in pediatric brain tumour research. He has co-authored over 40 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and books including high-impact publications in Cancer Research, EMBO Journal and Nature. Christian will graduate in May 2017 with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of King's College in Halifax. While Christian's professional experience is primarily rooted in molecular cancer biology and basic science research, he has always had an affinity for creative writing and is currently completing his debut nonfiction book titled The Scientist and the Psychic, telling the story of celebrity psychic Geraldine Smith, who also happens to be his mother. The Scientist and the Psychic is an investigation into the science of the paranormal with the personal story of one of the most prolific and pioneering psychics of our time. More information about Christian's current book project can be found on his website: Drchristiansmith.com or follow @drcasmith on Instagram.

Represented by Stephanie Sinclair, stephanie@transatlanticagency.com.

Tabatha Southey 

Tabatha Southey is smart, funny, and very beautiful. She has the prettiest eyes. She describes her hair as iconic. That's how men think of her breasts. She is also a gifted writer. Elle Canada, The National Post, The Globe and Mail, Walrus, Maclean's and Explore Magazine are some of the publications lucky enough to have her in their pages. She has a lovely laugh and has been nominated for ten National Magazine Awards. She is an excellent cook, terrific in bed and weary of self-deprecating chick writers. 

Represented by Samantha Haywood, samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

Susan Swan 

Susan Swan's critically acclaimed fiction has been published in fifteen countries and translated into eight languages. Swan's last novel, The Western Light published in 2012 is a prequel to The Wives of Bath, her bestselling gothic novel about a murder in a girls' school. A finalist for the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Trillium Book Award, The Wives of Bath was made into the feature film Lost and Delirious, shown in 32 countries. A finalist for the Evergreen Award, The Western Light is currently being adapted for a TV mini-series. A previous novel What Casanova Told Me was a finalist for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize; it was named a top book of the year by The Globe and Mail, Calgary Herald, Now Magazine and the Sun Times. Published by Knopf in Canada and in the U.S. by Bloomsbury it has also been published in Spain, Russia, Poland, Serbia and Portugal. And The Biggest Modern Woman of the World, published in Canada, the U.S. and U.K. The Biggest Modern Woman of the World was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award and Books in Canada's first novel award; it is currently being adapted for stage by Montreal playwright Hannah Moscovitch. As a former chair of The Writers' Union of Canada, Swan brought in a new benefits plan for writers and artists. 

Represented by Samantha Haywood, samantha@transatlanticagency.com.


Transatlantic Agency | 416 488 9214 | www.transatlanticagency.com