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.
Susan Rich at Little, Brown Children’s has bought ENCOUNTER by Brittany Luby (Anishinaabe) with art by Michaela Goade (Tlingit.) Based on notes kept by French explorer Jacques Cartier, Encounter imagines a first meeting between a French sailor and a Stadaconan fisher as they observe their differences, while the natural world around them offers evidence of their commonality. Publication is planned for Fall 2019; Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists represented the author in the deal for World rights excluding Canada, and Kirsten Hall at Catbird Agency represented the illustrator. Canadian rights acquired by Tara Walker at Tundra Books.
Award winning author of Falling, Anne Simpson’s new novel, SPEECHLESS, about a young journalist working in Nigeria who has a fatwa issued against her after she writes a newspaper article about a teenage girl charged with adultery, to Kelsey Attard at Freehand Books, for publication in Spring 2020, by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists (World).
Karma Brown‘s RECIPE FOR A PERFECT WIFE, told in dual narratives in which a woman finds a cookbook buried in an old box in the basement of her new home and becomes captivated with the cookbook’s previous owner, a 1950s housewife; dissatisfied with her own life and losing her grip on reality one retro recipe at a time, she will decide how far she’s willing to go to get the life she wants, to Maya Ziv at Dutton, by Carolyn Forde at Westwood Creative Artists (US).
We’re delighted to congratulate Kyo Maclear whose memoir Birds, Art, Life won the 2018 Trillium Book Award!
A #1 national bestseller, Birds, Art, Life, follows two artists on a yearlong adventure that is at once a meditation on the nature of creativity and a quest for a good and meaningful life.
Karma Brown’s The Life Lucy Knew received a 5/5 rating from The Girly Book Club!
Reviewer Sarah Doherty remarked, “The character that Brown created in Lucy Sparks was so complex and relatable… I even caught myself thinking ‘What if it were me, what if my memories are all false, too?!’”
After hitting her head, Lucy Sparks awakens in the hospital only to discover that the happily-ever-after she remembers in vivid detail—right down to the dress she wore to her wedding—is only one example of what her doctors call a false memory: recollections her mind made up to fill in the blanks from the coma. When the life Lucy believes she had slams against the reality she’s been living for the past four years, she must make a difficult choice about which life she wants to lead, and who she really is.
A warm congratulations to Tanya Talaga whose book Seven Fallen Feathers won the Indigenous Literature Award, part of the First Nation Communities Read 2018-2019 program, in the young adult/adult category.
Using a sweeping narrative focusing on the lives of seven Indigenous high school students who died in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Talaga delves into the history of this small northern city that has come to manifest Canada’s long struggle with human rights violations against Indigenous communities.
First Nations Communities Read is an annual reading program launched in 2003 by the First Nations public library community in Ontario. Selected titles are chosen with the aim to encourage family literacy, intergenerational storytelling, and intergenerational information sharing, and are written and/or illustrated by, or otherwise involve the participation of a First Nation, Métis, or Inuit creator.
We are thrilled to see Kyo Maclear’s Birds, Art, Life and James Maskalyk’s Life on the Ground Floor are 2018 Trillium Book Award Finalists!
The Ontario government established the Trillium Book Award in 1987 to recognize excellence, support marketing and foster increased public awareness of the quality and diversity of Ontario writers and writing.
A #1 national bestseller, Birds, Art, Life, follows two artists on a yearlong adventure that is at once a meditation on the nature of creativity and a quest for a good and meaningful life.
In his deeply personal book, winner of the 2017 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, humanitarian doctor and activist James Maskalyk reflects upon his extensive experience in emergency medicine.
