WCA Deal Report for November 1, 2024

By Deals
  • Nick Garrison from Penguin Canada has acquired world rights to Marc Lewis’ THE VOICES IN OUR HEADS from Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists. The book relates case histories and vignettes showing that many clients in psychotherapy, as well as individuals pursuing self-help, find their inner worlds populated by a variety of part-selves, sometimes heard as internal voices, critics or cravings, that have been highlighted by new psychotherapies such as Internal Family Systems. The book provides a scientific look at how these part-selves emerge and stabilize in our lives, how they communicate with each other, and how improving their communication serves our pursuit of happiness and self-fulfillment, due for publication in the fall of 2026.
  • Patricia Ocampo at Kids Can Press has acquired world rights to Louise Bradford’s SAGE AND THE SHOWSHOE EXPRESS, a celebration of the important, and sometimes treacherous, work of 19th-century Indigenous mail carriers, in which a young Ojibwe girl follows her father, who delivers mail by snowshoe, as they try to outrace a dangerous snowstorm. It will publish in fall 2026, with art by Maya McKibbin, a two-spirited Ojibwe and Irish-settler animator and illustrator. Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists represented Bradford, a member of Batchewana First Nation, whose great-great grandfather was a snowshoe mail carrier.

Foreign rights:

  • John Glusman at Norton in the US, Michael Heyward at Text in Australia, Prometheus in the Netherlands via Marianne Schoenbach Agency, Presença in Portugal via Sandra Bruna Agency, XYZ for French in North America, and Polirom in Romania via Simona Kessler Agency have acquired SON OF NOBODY by Yann Martel. Canadian rights previously sold to Knopf and UK rights to Canongate. Rights sold by Jackie Kaiser and Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists.

WCA Deal Report for October 25, 2024

By Deals
  • Ken Whyte from Sutherland House has acquired World excl. Israel rights to Joshua Lincoln’s book, ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS, from Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists. The book offers a richly detailed account of the life in late-19th century Ottoman Palestine of ‘Abdu’l-Bahā ‘Abbās, son of the founding prophet of the Bahā’ī faith, utilizing a wealth of Bahā’ī and other sources, illuminating ‘Abdu’l-Bahā’s unique personality, for publication in Spring 2025.

WCA Deal Report for October 11, 2024

By Deals

Film/TV:

  • Julijette Inc. has optioned the film and TV rights to Anna Porter’s novel, GULL ISLAND, a chilling story told by a young woman alone on an island on Lake Huron, where loneliness, explosive memories, bad weather and terrifying dreams invade her mind during three day and nights, and she slowly realizes that some of her dreams may not be dreams, and that there is someone else there who wishes her harm. The deal was arranged by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists on behalf of John Pearce.

WCA Deal Report for September 27, 2024

By Deals
  • Lara Hinchberger at Penguin Canada has bought English Canadian rights to author of DEAR EVELYN Kathy Page’s GETTING BETTER AT BEING WORSE: DISPATCHES FROM THAT OTHER PLACE, a heart-rending but uplifting memoir in which the novelist battles and ultimately has to come to terms with Parkinson’s Disease, to be published in Fall 2025. The deal was arranged by John Pearce at Westwood Creative Artists.
  • Author of the multi-award-winning early chapter book series THE NGUYEN KIDS Linda Trinh’s THE LEGENDARY ALLIES, a four-book, contemporary fantasy chapter book series that follows a team of adventuresome kids and their ally animals—inspired by Vietnamese mythical creatures (Phoenix, Lan, Turtle, and Dragon)—who are chosen to complete quests to further social justice in the magical land of Van Lang and must learn to work together, illustrated by Quynh Anh Nguyen, to Katie Hearn at Annick Press, in an exclusive submission, for publication Winter 2026, by Bridgette Kam at Westwood Creative Artists for the author (world).

WCA Deal Report for September 20, 2024

By Deals
  • Riel Nason’s beloved ghost will continue its adventures in two new picture books, sold in a world rights deal to Samantha Swenson at Tundra Books. In the first title, THE LITTLE GHOST QUILT’S WINTER SURPRISE, the little ghost quilt—whose layers keep him warm in the winter—decorates a Christmas tree to show his friends the delights of the season. It will publish in fall 2025, with illustrations again provided by Byron Eggenschwiler. Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists represented Nason in the deal.
  • Jennifer Lambert from HarperCollins Canada has acquired World rights to Kevin Sylvester’s middle grade novel, TIME SURFERS, from Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists, about a group of elite travelers who travel back in time to save treasures that have been lost to disasters and war, for publication in Fall 2025.

WCA Deal Report for September 6, 2024

By Deals
  • Elizabeth Hay’s LATE NIGHTS ON AIR to Kampa Verlag (Germany), by Hannah Nuspliger-Fosh at Liepman, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Dr. Sima Samar’s OUTSPOKEN to Rüffer & Rub Verlag (Germany), by Hannah Nuspliger-Fosh at Liepman, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Hilary McMahon.
  • Thomas King’s THE INCONVENIENT INDIAN renewed to Boreal (World French), by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Thomas King’s A SHORT HISTORY OF INDIANS IN CANADA renewed to Boreal (World French), by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Alice Kuiper’s LIFE ON THE REFRIGERATOR DOOR to Odinsauga (Iceland), by Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser. This deal is for e-book and audiobook rights.
  • Dr. David Goldbloom and Dr. Pier Bryden’s HOW CAN I HELP? renewed to Shanghai Educational Publishing House (China), by Jenny Sun and Jackie Huang at Andrew Nurnberg Associates on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Michael Levine.
  • Thomas King’s DOUBLE EAGLE and BLACK ICE (DreadfulWater series) to Editions Alire (North American French), by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.

WCA Deal Report for August 16, 2024

By Deals

Lynn Henry at Knopf has acquired world rights to Governor General’s Award winner Madhur Anand’s debut novel TO PLACE A RABBIT, about a translator who begins weaving her own life and memories—including a transformative French love affair—into a translation, exploring the entanglement of desire in fiction, life and love. Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists negotiated the deal, with publication slated for May 2025.

WCA Deal Report for July 12, 2024

By Deals
  • Andrew Boden’s WHEN WE WERE ASHES to Piemme (Italy), by Caterina Galimberti at The Italian Literary Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for John Pearce.
  • Josef Skvorecky’s short stories renewed to Wydawnictwo Czarne (Poland), by Tomasz Berezinski at Graal, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists.
  • Donald Thompson’s THE $12 MILLION STUFFED SHARK to Knigolove (Ukraine), by Tatjana Zoldnere at Eastern European and Asian Rights Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for John Pearce.
  • Timothy Findley’s THE PIANO MAN’S DAUGHTER, HEADHUNTER, AND PILGRIM renewed to Gallimard (France), by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Bruce Westwood.
  • Richard Wagamese’s boxset of INDIAN HORSE, MEDICINE WALK and STARLIGHT to Editions Zoe (World French excl. North America), by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for John Pearce and Chris Casuccio.

Film/TV:

  • Good Entertainment Inc. and Donald Martin Enterprises, Inc. optioned the film and tv rights to Lawrence Scanlan and Birgit Stutz’s book THE RESCUE OF BELLE AND SUNDANCE, the story of two horses, abandoned in the Canadian Rockies, starving and frost-bitten when a snowmobiler spotted them in December. The harrowing story of their rescue—which included hand-digging a trench six feet deep and a kilometre long—gives new life to words such as community, caring and compassion. The deal was arranged by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists on behalf of Jackie Kaiser.
  • Quiet Ghost Productions has optioned the film and TV rights to Charlotte Gray’s THE MASSEY MURDER, the true story of an eighteen year old servant who shot and killed a member of one of Toronto’s most powerful families in 1915. Carrie Davies’ sensational trial laid bare the stresses and schisms within a society and a country struggling towards maturity. The deal was arranged by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists on behalf of Hilary McMahon.

WCA Deal Report for June 21, 2024

By Deals
  • Matt Joudrey from At Bay Press has acquired World rights to Peter Newman’s memoir, an award-winning physician and writer. This collection of compassionate, non-fiction stories set around the world from Canada to the Caribbean and Golan Heights, and from the Arctic to Africa, in both peacetime and war, provides a window into the privileged, intimate world of the doctor-patient relationship, for publication in Spring 2026, by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists.
  • Ken Sutherland from Sutherland House has acquired World rights to Drs. Jean and Alastair Carruthers’ memoir, about the love and life partnership of two medical doctors, initially thought crazy for even considering botulinum toxin as a therapy, and then adulated and revered for their courage and contribution to the medical and cosmetic lexicon, for publication in Spring 2026, by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists.

WCA Deal Report for June 14, 2024

By Deals

Film/TV:

  • Shotglass Productions has optioned the film and TV rights to Caroline Adderson‘s novel, MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, about two young brothers whose mother doesn’t return home one night. In order to escape the foster care system, they run away up north with an elderly neighbour and find themselves, first in paradise, then in worse trouble than they could ever have imagined. The deal was arranged by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists on behalf of Jackie Kaiser.