- Shivaun Hearne at House of Anansi Press has acquired world rights to Tasneem Jamal’s I NEVER SAID THAT I WAS BRAVE, a novel with an unreliable narrator who recounts the shifting dynamics of her intense friendship and ultimate betrayal of a woman who, like the narrator, struggles to navigate the space between her South Asian upbringing and the culture into which she immigrated in childhood. Publication is slated for fall 2024; Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists negotiated the deal.
- Jennifer DiDomenico from University of Toronto Press has acquired World rights to Harry Malcolmson’s THE SCENE, a lived account of the dramatic 1960s emergence of a Toronto Art Scene that revolutionized art in Canada, transitioning from an environment of isolated artists to a mature Canadian Art. The deal was done by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists, for publication in 2025.
- Muslim author Charlene Smith’s work of middle grade non-fiction GAME CHANGERS: STORIES OF HIJABI ATHLETES FROM AROUND THE WORLD, profiling 13 trailblazing athletes in a range of sports, including Egyptian beach volleyball player Doaa Elghobashy, UAE hockey player Fatima Al Ali, Afghani soccer player Hajar Abulfazl and Syrian-American runner Rahaf Khatib, who fought against cultural traditions and institutional resistance to blaze the trail for Muslim girls to participate and compete, to Kirstie Hudson at Orca by Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists (world), for publication in winter 2025.
Foreign rights:
- Sima Samar’s OUTSPOKEN to Saqi Books (UK & Commonwealth, excl. Canada and ANZ, incl. Europe and the Middle East), edited by Elizabeth Briggs, by Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Hilary McMahon.
- Sima Samar’s OUTSPOKEN to HarperCollins Australia (ANZ), edited by Roberta Ivers, by Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Hilary McMahon.
- Marc Raboy’s MARCONI to Hoepli (Italy), by Elisa Beretta at The Italian Literary Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for John Pearce.
- Josef Skvorecky’s DVORAK IN LOVE renewed to Książkowe Klimaty (Poland), by Olga Więzowska at Graal Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Bruce Westwood.
- Kim Fu’s LESSER KNOWN MONSTERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY to Marjin Kiri (Indonesia), by Santo Manurung at Maxima Creative Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
- Leanne Toshiko Simpson’s NEVER BEEN BETTER to Alta (Brazil), by JP Riff at Riff Agency, to Alta Books, edited by Illysabelle Trajano, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
- Pamela Murray at Random House Canada has acquired North American rights to OUTSPOKEN: MY FIGHT FOR FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN by Sima Samar with renowned journalist Sally Armstrong, in which Samar, a doctor to the poor who created schools for girls in Afghanistan and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her activism and pursuit of justice, uncovers the true story of the collapse of the Afghan government in 2021 when the Taliban returned to power. Publication is slated for spring 2024; Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists negotiated the deal.
- Douglas & McIntyre has bought World English rights to Bob McDonald’s JUST SAY YES—a memoir by the host of CBC’s Quirks & Quarks and former science correspondent for CBC’s The National, detailing his lifelong drive to popularize science, along with anecdotes about the people and places he met along the way, to be published in Fall 2024. The deal was arranged by John Pearce at Westwood Creative Artists.
Film/TV:
- Wonderful Content has optioned the film and TV rights to Carrie Snyder’s GIRL RUNNER, an engaging and endearing story about family, ambition, athletics, and the dedicated pursuit of one’s passion—part historical page-turner, part contemporary mystery. Wonderful Content’s Cristina Molino and Michel Sassoon will lead the project. The deal was arranged by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists for Hilary McMahon.
- Ben Kaplan‘s CATCH A FIRE: THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF THE LEGALIZATION OF CANADIAN WEED, following Bruce Linton, the founder of Canopy Growth, to tell the biggest Canadian business story in the past 30 years—the rise and billion-dollar fall of Canadian weed in the post-COVID-19 global marijuana economy, to Kwame Scott Fraser at Dundurn Press, with Julia Kim editing, for publication in winter 2025, by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists (world). Rights: rights@dundurn.com
- Trinity College Dublin Masters in Creative Writing graduate Virginia Evans‘s THE CORRESPONDENT, pitched as A MAN CALLED OVE meets 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, an epistolary novel about a woman in the winter of her life trying to make reparations and sense of the world in the only way she knows how, through correspondence, to Amy Einhorn at Crown, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in Winter 2025, by Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists (world).
- Sarah Howden at Orca Book Publishers has acquired CALL ME AL, a middle grade novel written by Wali Shah and Eric Walters, in which eighth-grade student Ali Khan finds that writing poetry—first about his crush, then about what it means to be an immigrant and the anti-Muslim racism around him—helps him discover who he truly is, for publication in March 2024. Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists represented Shah, and Amy Tompkins at Transatlantic Agency represented Walters in the deal for world rights.