David Chariandy’s long-awaited second novel Brother has been shortlisted for the 2018 Toronto Book Awards. Brother, winner of the 2017 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the 2018 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, explores questions of masculinity, family, race, and identity as they are played out in a Scarborough housing complex during the sweltering heat and simmering violence of the summer of 1991.
This is the 44th year of the Toronto Book Awards.
We’re delighted that Christine Higdon’s The Very Marrow of Our Bones earned a spot on Canadian Living’s The Best Books to Add to Your Summer Reading List. Prior to making this “ultimate summer reading list” Kirkus Review called it, “An ambitious debut novel that will make you cry, cringe, and laugh.”
WCA is delighted to announce that award-winning and acclaimed middle-grade author Charis Cotter has joined the agency, to be represented by Hilary McMahon. Forthcoming from Charis this fall is The Ghost Road, published by Tundra Books. The striking art has just been chosen to grace the cover of Booklist’s SF/Fantasy & Horror spotlight issue, and the novel received an advance starred review from Kirkus, where it was proclaimed “a complex and engrossing story.”
We are thrilled for the three WCA authors on the 2018 Heritage Toronto Award for Historical Writing list of nominees!
The Whisky King by Trevor Cole
Steal Away Home by Karolyn Smardz Frost
Lightfoot by Nicholas Jennings
The winner will be announced on October 29th, 2018 at an awards ceremony.
Professor and poet Madhur Anand’s THE ASYMMETRIC HEART, an intergenerational memoir which weaves stories of her family’s move from pre-Partition Punjab to Canada with the physical manifestations of separation and symmetry, to Haley Cullingham at Strange Light, for publication in spring 2020, by Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists (world English).
Author Jamil Jivani talks to Nam Kiwanuka on “The Agenda” about his cancer diagnosis, which he learned of on the cusp of publishing his first book, Why Young Men. Jivani’s debut book, in which he argues for a sea change in the way we look at young men, and for how they see themselves, has been longlisted for the 2018 Toronto Book Awards.
For the full interview, click here.
We’re very proud of WCA’s Carolyn Forde, one of the only two Canadian agents to participate in a 25-member delegation that met with publishers in Munich and Berlin as part of a trade mission planned in advance of the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair. Now we’re working hard to help our authors’ books travel too! To learn more about the trip, click here.
World English rights to Hannah Mary McKinnon’s domestic suspense novel THE OTHER SISTER have sold to MIRA. The deal was arranged by Carolyn Forde of Westwood Creative Artists. Publication is planned for 2020.
Spanish rights to Darrel Bricker and John Ibbitson’s EMPTY PLANET, about the decline of the world’s population, have been acquired by Ediciones B. Deals have also been concluded in China, Japan, Korea, the US and the UK. The Spanish sale was arranged by the Sandra Bruna Literary Agency and Carolyn Forde of Westwood Creative Artists on behalf of John Pearce of Westwood Creative Artists.
Italian rights to Karma Brown’s next novel, the domestic noir RECIPE FOR A PERFECT WIFE, have been acquired by DeAPlaneta. The deal was arranged by The Italian Agency on behalf of Carolyn Forde at Westwood Creative Artists. Viking will publish in Canada and Dutton in the US, with publication set for 2020.
Discovery Channel host and award-winning author Jay Ingram’s third installment in the bestselling pop science series, THE SCIENCE OF WHY 3: ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT SCIENCE MYTHS, MYSTERIES, AND MARVELS, full of browsable science facts that will amuse and fascinate readers of all ages, to Nita Pronovost and Brendan May at Simon & Schuster Canada, for publication in November 2018, by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists (North American English).
Ann Kelley at Random House/Schwartz & Wade has acquired world rights to BC poet (and author of Tree Song) Tiffany Stone‘s picture book SILLI’S SHEEP, about a man named Silli who resourcefully arranges his sturdy sheep (actually rocks) into a little hut, and is finally sheltered from the wind. Publication is scheduled for summer 2020; Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists inked the deal.
World rights to Catherine Gildiner’s (Too Close to the Falls) GOOD MORNING, MONSTER, recounting the inspirational stories of psychological heroes that Gildiner encountered during her twenty-five years as a psychologist, have been acquired by Penguin publishing director Diane Turbide, for publication by Penguin Random House in fall 2019. Gildiner was represented by Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists.
Penguin publishing director Diane Turbide has acquired Canadian English rights to DON’T CALL IT A CULT, an account of the secretive NXIVM organization and its recently arrested founder Keith Raniere. VICE senior writer Sarah Berman explores how an expensive self-help training program grew into an international enterprise that involved a shocking “sorority” that branded, blackmailed, and enslaved female followers. The deal was arranged by Carolyn Forde at Westwood Creative Artists, with publication by Penguin Random House Canada is planned for late 2019.
Congratulations to Linda Bailey! Her book, The Tiny Hero of Ferny Creek Library, has been nominated for a Red Cedar Book Award for 2018-2019.
Every year, thousands of children between grades 4 and 7 are invited to read books from the nominated lists of non-fiction and fiction titles and vote for their favourite.
Bailey’s protagonist Eddie, a passionate reader who just happens to be a shiny green bug, saves the school library in this funny, heartwarming tale that fans of Flora & Ulysses and Charlotte’s Web will love.
