• Laura Dosky at Penguin Canada has acquired World rights to Dr. Erin Boynton and Eric Wong’s book THE INJURY GUIDE, from Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists. The book offers readers the basic science needed to understand their bodily injuries, and practical advice to treat those injuries and maintain their activity as they age, for publication in Spring 2025.
  
• Nick Garrison from Penguin Canada has acquired world rights to Shefa Siegel’s THE ORIGIN OF AVARICE: A JOURNEY OF GREED, GOLD, AND LOVE IN A TIME OF SCARCITY from Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists. The book, an erudite, humorous, and even romantic journey, finds the origins of our modern environmental crisis in the co-evolution of mining and greed. Through an entertaining mix of travel and memoir, Shefa Siegel traces a three-thousand year story of mining and greed that has resulted in one of humanity’s great crises, the scarcity of essential minerals. The book is due for publication in Spring 2024.
  
• Greystone Books has acquired world rights to award-winning writer and poet Jordan Scott’s I STUTTER, I LIE. The provisionally titled nonfiction book is described as combining creative nonfiction, autobiography, poetry, and critical inquiry to make connections among stuttering, power, and the perception of truth and lies. Publication is expected for fall 2024. The deal was arranged by Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists.

And the following foreign rights deals:

• Don Thompson’s ORANGE BALLOON DOG renewed to Atticus-Azbooka (Russia), by Synopsis Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for John Pearce.
  
• John Ralston Saul’s THE UNCONSCIOUS CIVILIZATION renewed to Shanghai Sanhui Culture and Press Ltd. (China), by Claire Cai at Big Apple China, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Michael Levine.
  
• Yann Martel’s LIFE OF PI renewed to Crown Publishing (Taiwan), by Whitney Hsu at Andrew Nurnberg Taiwan, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  
• Yann Martel’s LIFE OF PI to Mazmundama (Kazakhstan), by Tatjana Zoldnere at ANA Baltic, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
  
• Michael Ignatieff’s ISAIAH BERLIN renewed to Yilin Press (China), by Conor Cheng and Jackie Huang at ANA Beijing, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Michael Levine.
  
• Josef Skvorecky’s THE MIRACLE GAME renewed to Gallimard (France), by Marie-France Heinic at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists.

Film/TV:

• Film and TV rights to Shyam Selvadurai’s CINNAMON GARDENS, which is set in 1920 Colonial Sri Lanka in the elite neighbourhood of Cinnamon Gardens, and explores the lives of two Tamil families, has been optioned by Ian Benson’s Blue Bear Film and Television, and award-winning actor and writer Nimmi Harasgam. The deal was arranged by Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists on behalf of Bruce Westwood.

• Douglas & McIntyre’s Anna Comfort O’Keeffe has acquired North American English rights to Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio’s REUNITING WITH STRANGERS: A NOVEL TOLD IN STORIES. The debut collection is told through linked perspectives from the Filipino-Canadian diaspora and follows families who have separated and reunited through the caregiver program, exploring themes of estrangement, displacement, healing, and belonging. Publication is slated for Fall 2023. The deal was arranged by Hilary McMahon and Bridgette Kam at Westwood Creative Artists.

Foreign rights:

• Sandra Gulland’s THE JOSEPHINE TRILOGY to Saga-Egmont (Denmark), by Monique Oosterhof at MO Literary Services, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.

• Yann Martel’s LIFE OF PI, BEATRICE & VIRGIL, and THE FACTS BEHIND THE HELSINKI ROCCAMATIOS renewed to S. Fischer Verlag (Germany), by Hannah Nuspliger-Fosh at Liepman, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.

• Craig Shreve’s THE AFRICAN SAMURAI to Anubis Publishing (Greece), by John Moukakos at JLM Literary Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Chris Casuccio.

• Craig Shreve’s THE AFRICAN SAMURAI To Porto (Portugal), by Sandra Bruna at Sandra Bruna Literary Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Chris Casuccio.

• Craig Shreve’s THE AFRICAN SAMURAI to İthaki Yayıncılık (Turkey), by Atilla Izgi Turgut at Ackali Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Chris Casuccio.

• Putnam’s Kate Dresser has acquired World English excluding Canada rights to Leanne Toshiko Simpson’s NEVER BEEN BETTER. The debut novel is pitched as My Best Friend’s Wedding meets The Silver Linings Playbook, about the “three musketeers of the psych ward” who reunite one year later for a picture-perfect destination wedding in Turks and Caicos, where the third wheel must hold it together while deciding whether to confess her feelings for the groom. The deal was arranged by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists.

Foreign rights:

• Annabel Lyon’s THE SWEET GIRL and THE GOLDEN MEAN renewed to Editions de la Table Ronde (France), by Marie-France Heinic at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.

• Yann Martel’s 101 LETTERS TO A PRIME MINISTER renewed to ThinKingdom Media Group Ltd. (China), by Jackie Huang at Andrew Nurnberg Associates Beijing, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.

• Thomas Trofimuk’s THE ELEPHANT ON KARLUV BRIDGE to Laguna (Serbia), by Nada Perisic at Plima, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Hilary McMahon.

• Josef Skvorecky‘s THE ENGINEER OF HUMAN SOULS to Dritan Editions (Albania), by Vuk Perisic at Plima, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists.

• Creators of THE BIG BATH HOUSE, author Kyo Maclear and illustrator Gracey Zhang’s NOODLES ON A BICYCLE, about Tokyo’s bicycle food deliverers, to Ann Kelley at Random House Studio, for publication in fall 2024, by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists for the author, and Hannah Mann at Writers House for the illustrator (world).

Foreign rights:

• Kyo Maclear‘s UNEARTHING, to Laura Macaulay at ONE at Pushkin Press, by Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists on behalf of Jackie Kaiser (UK/Commonwealth, excl. Canada).

• Shyam Selvadurai’s MANSIONS OF THE MOON to Penguin India, by Millie Hoskins at United Agents, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Meg Wheeler and Bruce Westwood.

• Yann Martel’s LIFE OF PI renewed to Jakkajungsin (Korea), by Tae Eun Kim at Shinwon Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.

• Josef Skvorekcy’s THE COWARDS to Matica hrvatska (Croatia), by Vuk Perisic at Plima, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Bruce Westwood.

• Craig Shreve’s THE AFRICAN SAMURAI to MTS (Russia – digital) and Arkadia (Russia – print), by Natalia Sanina at Synopsis, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Chris Casuccio.

Film/TV:

• Netflix has acquired TV/film rights to Craig Shreve’s THE AFRICAN SAMURAI, based on the true-life story of Yasuke, Japan’s first and only samurai of African descent, for development as a five-part event series, to be written by Nick Jones Jr. and produced by 21 Laps’ Shawn Levy, Paige Simpson, Moera Ainai and Josh Barry along with Significant Productions’ Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi, by Jerry Kalajian at IPG, on behalf of Chris Casuccio at Westwood Creative Artists.

• Anne Shone at Scholastic Canada has acquired world rights to AT THE SPEED OF GUS by co-author of AUTUMN BIRD & THE RUNAWAY Richard Scrimger. The insightful middle grade novel follows the comically escalating adventure of charismatic 13-year-old Augustus Constantine whose mind (and mouth) operate at a different speed due to his ADHD, showing readers there’s more than one way to see the world. Publication is slated for summer 2023; Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists negotiated the deal.

• Lindenwood University MFA graduate Marissa Eller‘s JOINED AT THE JOINTS, in which a socially anxious, baking-obsessed teen more comfortable with pies than people meets a charismatic and super-attractive boy with the same diagnosis as her (juvenile arthritis) at a support group for sick kids, meaning sparks fly—for the first time in her life—outside of her kitchen, in this whip-smart romcom debut based on the author’s experience of chronic illness, to Mora Couch at Holiday House, for publication in summer 2024, by Emmy Nordstrom Higdon at Westwood Creative Artists (world).

Film/TV:

• Mike Sheerin at Nikki Ray Media Agency has optioned two properties from Westwood Creative Artists: Jennifer Robertson’s memoir BITCOIN WIDOW: LOVE, BETRAYAL, AND THE MISSING MILLIONS, and Dean Jobb’s true crime THE CASE OF THE MURDEROUS DR. CREAM. Hilary McMahon represents both Robertson and Jobb.

Foreign:

• Alice Kuipers‘s LIFE ON THE REFRIGERATOR DOOR renewed to Martin Fontes (Brazil), by JP Riff at Riff Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.

• Yann Martel’s LIFE OF PI renewed to Editions Gallimard (France), by Marie-France Heinic at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.

• Yann Martel’s LIFE OF PI renewed to Editura Polirom (Romania), by Marina Adriana at Simona Kessler Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.

• Shohini Ghose’s HER SPACE, HER TIME to Paidos (World Spanish), by Sandra Bruna at Sandra Bruna Literary Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative Artists for John Pearce.