WCA Deal Report for November 8, 2024
- Alchemy/Knopf Canada’s Dionne Brand and Lynn Henry have acquired Canadian English rights to Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s THEORY OF WATER. The essay collection weaves Nishnaabeg story and tradition with the author’s own deep thinking and lived experience, offering a vision of water as a catalyst for radical transformation. Publication is slated for April 2025. Haymarket Books’s Anthony Arnove has acquired U.S. and U.K. rights. The deals were arranged by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists.
- Alchemy/Knopf Canada’s Dionne Brand and Lynn Henry have acquired Canadian English rights to Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s THE BREATHING LANDS: A NOVEL IN STORIES. It is described as a genre bending novel in seven stories that explores the Nishnaabeg idea of embodied politics, networked horizonal social structure, and the way seven different perspectives or truths blend to make an eighth understanding. Publication is slated for Spring 2026. The deal was arranged by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists.
- HarperCollins Canada’s Jennifer Lambert has acquired Canadian English rights to Kim Fu’s THE VALLEY OF VENGEFUL GHOSTS. The novel is about a woman whose mind unravels as the waters rise and her new house crumbles amid a biblical rain, pitched as literary horror in the tradition of mid-20th-century writers like Shirley Jackson and Daphne du Maurier, except the horror is tied to 21st-century elements: the loneliness of the internet age, climate change, and the housing crisis. Publication is slated for March 2026. Tin House Books’s Masie Cochran has acquired U.S. rights. The deal was arranged by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists
- Groundwood Books publisher Karen Li has acquired world rights to Laurel Croza and Matt James’s ROCK. The picture book is described as a delightful existential story in which a rock remains true to itself when faced with a bullying seagull. Publication is slated for March 2025. Author Laurel Croza represented herself, and Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists represented illustrator Matt James.
- Tundra’s Samantha Swenson has acquired world rights to author-illustrator Lauren Soloy’s THE NEWEST GNOME. The picture book is described as a delightful story in which a new gnome is welcomed to The Pocket and that celebrates mindfulness, community and belonging, and the wonders of nature. Publication is expected for Fall 2025. The deal was arranged by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists.
- HighWater Press’s Catherine Gerbasi has acquired world rights to three new books in David A. Robertson’s The Breakout Chronicles middle grade series. The chapter books follow an underdog hockey team featuring a young Indigenous protagonist, and include the recently published Book One: THE KODIAKS, andd the forthcoming Book Two: THE LEGEND OF DUSTY BENDER, Book Three: THE CANADIANS and Book Four: THE HAWKS. Publication for Book Two is expected for Spring 2026. The deal was arranged by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists.
- Jodi Lewchuk from University of Toronto Press has acquired World rights to veteran journalist Jeff Semple’s FAKE NEWS, from Michael Levine at Westwood Creative Artists. With the rise of professional internet ‘trolls,’ Deepfake videos and state-sponsored foreign interference campaigns, it’s never been harder to discern fact from fiction. This book will follow the author as he travels the world reporting from the frontlines of a new disinformation war, to equip readers with the tools to protect themselves against the deceptions, for publication in Spring 2026.
