WCA Deal Report for June 13, 2025

By Deals
  • Douglas & McIntyre’s Anna Comfort O’Keefe has acquired Canadian rights to Rachel Phan’s THAT ASIAN GIRL IS A PROBLEM. The essay collection is described as a fearless gut-punch that confronts the racism, body policing, and misogyny Asian women are expected to swallow, flips the script on respectability, and reclaims the mess, rage, and power of refusing to play nice. Publication is expected for Fall 2026. The deal was arranged by Chris Casuccio of Westwood Creative Artists.

WCA Deal Report for June 6, 2025

By Deals

Foreign rights:

  • Shyam Selvadurai’s FUNNY BOY to Društvo za teoretsko psihoanalizo (Slovenia), by Nada Perisic at PLIMA, and to Two Shores Press (Tamil), on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Chris Casuccio.
  • Shyam Selvadurai’s CINNAMON GARDENS to Two Shores Press (Tamil), by Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Chris Casuccio.
  • Ray Jayawardhana’s STRANGE NEW WORLDS renewed to Chongqing University Press (China), by Winney Deng at Andrew Nurnberg Associates International, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for John Pearce.
  • Glenn Dixon’s THE INFINITE SADNESS OF SMALL APPLIANCES to Beijing Owspace Co. (China), by Jessica Wu at Andrew Nurnberg Associates International, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Hilary McMahon.

WCA Deals for May 30, 2025

By News
  • Margot Blankier at Tundra Books has acquired world rights to COW OF THE CASTLE by Tiffany Stone (SIX LITTLE STICKS), a humorous picture book about an increasingly resourceful cow who uses six simple machines to achieve her goal of a luxurious life behind castle walls. Publication is slated for spring 2027. Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists represented the author and Dustin Harbin, who will illustrate, represented himself. 

WCA Deal Report for May 23, 2025

By Deals
  • Jack David from ECW Press has acquired World rights to Private Investigator Ellen White’s HOSPITAL OF HORRORS, from Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists. In the book, co-written by Hope Thompson, Ellen and her Whereabouts Unknown team investigate the cases of six people who vanished without a trace from the notorious North Bay Psychiatric Hospital, for publication in Fall 2026.

Film/TV:

  • White Pine Pictures has optioned the scripted rights to cyber security expert Ron Deibert’s book, CHASING SHADOWS, which  details the unseemly marketplace for high-tech surveillance, professional disinformation, and computerized malfeasance, and how his team at The Citizen Lab have lifted the lid on dozens of covert operations targeting innocent citizens. The deal was arranged by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists.

Foreign rights:

  • Marc Lewis’s THE BIOLOGY OF DESIRE to Say Yayinlari (Turkey), by Atilla Izgi Turgut at Akcali Copyright Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Michael Levine.
  • Yann Martel’s BEATRICE & VIRGIL renewed to Presenca (Portugal), by Milagros Paissan at Sandra Bruna Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Thomas King’s ALIENS ON THE MOON to Memoire d’encrier (World French), by Megan Husain at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Craig Shreve’s THE AFRICAN SAMURAI to Navona (Catalan), by Sandra Bruna at Sandra Bruna Literary Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Chris Casuccio.
  • Rohinton Mistry’s A FINE BALANCE to Beagle (Ukraine) and Bogart Media (Georgia), by Tatjana Zoldnere at Eastern European and Asian Rights Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists.

WCA Deal Report for May 16, 2025

By Deals
  • Pegasus Books’ Claiborne Hancock has acquired US rights, The Westbourne Press’s Lynn Gaspard has acquiredUK& Commonwealth rights (ex. Canada and Oceania) and Europe and Middle East, and Random House Australia’s Meredith Curnow has acquired Oceania rights to Louise K. Blight’s WHERE THE EARTH MEETS THE SKY: A STUDY OF PENGUINS, PEOPLE AND PLACE IN ANTARCTICA. The deals were arranged by Jackie Kaiser and Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists. Canadian English rights were also sold to Doubleday/Bond Street Books’s Janie Yoon.

WCA Deal Report for May 9, 2025

By Deals
  • Biblioasis’s Dan Wells has acquired world English rights to Don Gillmor’s CHERRY BEACH. The novel follows two police detectives who are investigating the brutal murder of two girls, and their search for the killer takes them through a corrupt police force, a maze of criminals, expensive lawyers, graffiti artists, and suspect politicians, and finally into the heart of the city’s real estate world, all while a restless city is waiting to explode. Publication is expected for March 2026. The deal was arranged by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists.
  • Kids Can Press’s Katie Scott has acquired world rights to Kate Jenks Landry’s ALL THE BASEMENTS ON BLACKBERRY STREET, to be illustrated by Marie Lafrance. The picture book is described as a celebratory story of the subterranean, in which a new family moves on to the unusual Blackberry Street, only to discover that their basement is not all that it seems. Publication is expected for spring 2027. Bridgette Kam at Westwood Creative Artists represented Jenks Landry.
  • Karen Li at Groundwood Books has acquired AH MA’S HOME by Gillian Sze (I DREW A HEART) illustrated by Leah Hong, about a grandmother who shares with her granddaughter memories of village life in China, against the backdrop of the changing season and animals preparing for the winter.  Publication is slated for fall 2026. Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists represented the author and Kirsten Hall at Catbird Productions represented the illustrator in the deal for world rights. 

WCA Deal Report for May 2, 2025

By Deals

Film/TV:

  • M.D.F Productions has optioned the film and TV rights to Robert Rotenberg’s WHAT WE BURIED, the story of a Toronto homicide detective’s investigation into his brother’s murder, when he uncovers hidden links between a World War II Nazi massacre in an historical hill town in Italy, and criminals still at large and in positions of power in Canada today. The deal was arranged by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists.

Foreign rights:

  • Sandra Gulland’s THE JOSEPHINE TRILOGY renewed to S. Fischer Verlag (Germany), by Theresa Lang at Liepman, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Yann Martel’s SON OF NOBODY to Wydawnictwo Albatros (Poland), and LIFE OF PI renewed to the same publisher, by Tomasz Berezinski at Graal, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s THEORY OF WATER to Stéphane Cormier at Prise de Parole (World French), by Nina Court at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Richard Wagamese’s RAGGED COMPANY to Guylaine Girard at Editions XYZ (French North America), by Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for John Pearce and Chris Casuccio.  

WCA Deal Report for April 17, 2025

By Deals
  • House of Anansi’s Shivaun Hearne has acquired Canadian rights to Jane Park‘s debut novel, INHERITANCE, in which a Korean Canadian woman returns to the prairies to revisit her childhood and confront a haunting guilt, while seeking to overcome a rift that crosses generations. Publication is expected for Winter, 2026. The deal was arranged by Chris Casuccio of Westwood Creative Artists. World English (ex Canada) rights previously sold to Jessica Case at Pegasus Books.

WCA Deal Report for April 4, 2025

By Deals

Foreign rights:

  • Yann Martel’s LIFE OF PI renewed to XYZ Editeur (Quebec), by Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Ann Y.K. Choi’s ALL THINGS UNDER THE MOON to Giunti (Italy) at auction, by Elisa Beretta at The Italian Literary Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Rohinton Mistry’s A FINE BALANCE to Sichuan Tiandi Publishing House (China), by Andrew Nurnberg Associates Beijing, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists.
  • Kim Fu’s THE VALLEY OF VENGEFUL GHOSTS to Héliotrope (French), by Megan Husain at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  • Marc Lewis’ THE BIOLOGY OF DESIRE to Herald (Romania), by Thomas Kessler at Kessler Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Michael Levine.

WCA Deal Report for March 28, 2025

By Deals
  • Emily Feinberg at Roaring Brook Press has acquired, at auction, MY BUFFALO DREAM, the debut picture book from Métis-Cree poet, actor and theatre creator PJ Prudat, in which a child’s nighttime imaginings lead to a joyful road trip with a buffalo-speaking grandpa at the wheel and an ice-cream loving buffalo in the back, celebrating imagination and wonder and families of all kinds. Aly McKnight will illustrate. Publication is slated for spring 2027. Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists represented the author and the illustrator represented herself in the deal for world rights.
  • Stephanie Smith at HarperOne has acquired world rights to author of MOTHER TERESA: A SIMPLE PATH and pilgrimage guide Lucinda M. Vardey‘s THE GREEN SOUL: DISCOVERING GOD IN NATURE, an exploration of our modern exile from sacred belonging with the earth and a new vision for rewilded spirituality through the grand inheritance of the great outdoors. Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists represented Vardey in the deal.
  • Ken Whyte from Sutherland House has acquired world rights to James King’s biography of the renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. Burtynsky’s stunning images of fractured landscapes have established his reputation as one of the greatest photographers of our time, and this biography tells readers not only of his adventures around the globe, but the deeply personal story of how he came into being as an artist, by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists for publication in Spring 2026.