Brad Wilson, Editorial Director of HarperCollins Canada has acquired World rights to internationally bestselling novelist Karma Brown’s first work of non-fiction. In the vein of The Happiness Project, GET UP EARLY, CHANGE YOUR LIFE is about uncovering the “magic” hours each day that allow you to accomplish a passion project you never imagined you’d have time for. Publication is set for Winter 2021. The deal was arranged by Carolyn Forde of Westwood Creative Artists.
All Things Consoled, Elizabeth Hay’s startling and beautiful memoir about the drama of her parents’ end, is a finalist for the 2018 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
Jury Citation:
“Elizabeth Hay’s loving, exacting memoir, All Things Consoled, details the decline of her elderly parents with unflinching tenderness. The path she and her family travel is crooked and long, filled with hospital beds and doctors’ visits, foggy minds, and shuffling confusion. But Hay’s prose elevates this ordinary rite of passage — the death of one’s parents — to something rare and poetic.”
In a two-book deal, Samantha Swenson at Tundra Books has acquired world rights to debut author and illustrator Lauren Soloy’s picture book, WHEN EMILY WAS SMALL, which follows iconic Canadian painter Emily Carr as a young child as she celebrates the magic and wonder of a childhood spent immersed in nature, and a second untitled picture book. Publication is scheduled for Summer 2020 and Summer 2021, respectively. Jackie Kaiser of Westwood Creative Artists negotiated the deal.
Acclaimed BC poet Jordan Scott has sold world rights to his debut picture book, I TALK LIKE A RIVER, about a boy who stutters and the father who empowers him to endure it, to Neal Porter at Holiday House. Greenaway medalist Sydney Smith will illustrate, with publication planned for fall 2020. Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists represents the author and Emily van Beek at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management represents the illustrator.
Congratulations to humanitarian doctor and activist James Maskalyk whose book Life on the Ground Floor: Letters from the Edge of Emergency Medicine has been shortlisted for the 2018 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. Maskalyk, deemed “A master of the medical memoir,” by the Toronto Star, won the 2017 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
Susanne Alexander and Matthew Halliday at Goose Lane Editions have acquired Canadian Rights (English and French) to ocean journalist Laura Trethewey’s IMPERILED OCEAN: Human Stories from a Changing Sea; a deeply-reported work of narrative journalism that follows people as they head out to sea, showing that what they discover holds both inspiring and dire implications for the life of the ocean and for all of us back on land. The deal was arranged by John Pearce at Westwood Creative Artists in association with Chris Casuccio on behalf of Suzy Evans at Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
Award-winning author Shyam Selvadurai and internationally acclaimed director Deepa Mehta are bringing the national bestseller Funny Boy to the screen. The novel, set in the seven years leading up to the 1983 riots in Sri Lanka, has been selected for funding by CBC Films and will begin production in February 2019.
We’re delighted to share that two WCA authors have been nominated for 2018 Canadian Children’s Book Centre book awards. When the Moon Comes, illustrated by Matt James, is up for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. The Jury said, “James’ strong illustrations emphasize the beauty of winter, the wonder of a dark night, the power of the moon and the fun of an escapade with friends.”
Darren Groth’s YA novel Munro Vs. the Coyote has been nominated for the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award. Here’s what the Jury had to say: “Groth offers readers a thoughtful and ultimately uplifting story about grief and healing, as well as difference and acceptance… Groth skillfully illustrates the personal challenges each person faces in dealing with trauma and loss, and reminds readers that while the journey to healing isn’t ever easy or straightforward, time and refocused energy can lessen the pain.”
Congratulations to actor, musician and novelist, Joel Thomas Hynes on winning the 2018 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award in the category of fiction!
The jury called Hyne’s novel We’ll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night, “An exceedingly well-paced narrative that never falls apart. It is bleak and uncompromising: ‘The Odyssey’ of modern Newfoundland fiction by way of ‘Huckleberry Finn.'”
WCA mourns the premature passing of gifted novelist, poet, essayist and playwright Priscila Uppal. Always curious, always questioning; she mined every challenge for its creative opportunities. She had so much more still to say and contribute…this is a sad day for all of us here at WCA, and for the wide circle of people whose lives Priscila touched.
Congratulations to Joel Thomas Hynes, a finalist for the 2018 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award for Fiction for We’ll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night.
The jury said of Hyne’s novel, “An exceedingly well-paced narrative that never falls apart. It is bleak and uncompromising: ‘The Odyssey’ of modern Newfoundland fiction by way of ‘Huckleberry Finn.'”