Wiggs Moves to Morrow
William Morrow v-p and executive editor Daniel Mallory signed four new books by bestseller Susan Wiggs. Meg Ruley at the Jane Rotrosen Agency brokered the world rights agreement. Wiggs’s longtime publisher has been Harlequin, and Mira will be releasing her next book, Starlight on Willow Lake, in September. Her first book with Morrow, The Key Ingredient, is set to be released in hardcover in 2016. Morrow said Wiggs has sold more than 22 million copies worldwide.

Buzzed-About Debut to Penguin Young Readers
The sought-after YA debut novel by London-based 26-year-old Alwyn Hamilton, Rebel of the Sands, has been acquired by Penguin Young Readers Group in an eight-house auction. Ken Wright, v-p and publisher of Viking Children’s Books, along with senior editor Kendra Levin, closed on North American rights, in a three-book deal, from agent Molly Ker Hawn at the Bent Agency. The book created buzz last year when the manuscript was taken out to international publishers; it has since sold in nine countries. Set in a mystical desert nation called Miraji, Sands follows “a gun-slinging girl desperate to escape her past, and a handsome foreigner who harbors dangerous secrets,” according to PYRG. Hamilton, who was born in Canada and grew up mostly in France, studied history of art at Cambridge; she now works at Christie’s, in the company’s Interiors department. Rebel is set for a winter 2016 release.

Singh Gets ‘Lucky’ in Preempt
Putnam senior editor Tara Singh Carlson took world rights to Shanthi Sekaran’s new novel, Lucky Boy, in a preempt. Lindsay Edgecombe at Levine Greenberg Rostan represented the author, who lives in Berkeley, Calif., and teaches creative writing at California College of the Arts. The novel, which is slated for spring 2016, follows the stories of two women whose lives collide: an undocumented 19-year-old Mexican immigrant trying to establish a life in the U.S., and an Indian-American woman longing (and struggling) to have a child. Putnam said the novel explores “identity, motherhood, and the pursuit of the American dream.” Sekaran’s debut novel, The Prayer Room, was published by MacAdam Cage in 2009.

Candlewick to ‘Burn’ With Medina
Meg Medina sold world rights to her new YA novel, Burn, Baby, Burn, to Kate Fletcher at Candlewick Press. Medina won the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award for Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (also published by Candlewick, in 2013); the Pura Belpré celebrates work by authors and illustrators portraying Latino culture in children’s books. Burn, which is set for spring 2016, follows a 17-year-old named Nora López through the infamous New York City summer of 1977, when, among other things, the serial killer known as the Son of Sam was active. Jennifer Rofé at Andrea Brown Literary represented Medina in the deal.

Saunders Takes Debut to Bloomsbury
For Bloomsbury, Lea Beresford preempted world English rights to Adelia Saunders’s debut novel, She’s Long Gone. The book, Bloomsbury said, was pitched as “Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love meets Eowyn Ivey’s The Snow Child.” In the book, which Markus Hoffmann at Regal Literary sold, a man tries to understand the short life of his mother, who left him. According to the publisher, the novel also explores this man’s “tenuous relationship with his son, and the young Lithuanian woman whose ability to read a person’s past and fate on his or her skin may be the key to their family’s secrets.”

McCleery Gets ‘Lost’ at Harper Kids
In a six-figure deal, Peter McCleery sold his debut picture book, Bob and Joss Get Lost, to Margaret Anastas at HarperChildren’s. The title will feature illustrations by Vin Vogel. Agent Heather Alexander at Pippin Properties, who brokered the North American rights sale, said the story follows two boys who are stranded on a desert island “in a classic comedy-duo style” that recalls Abbott and Costello. Bob and Joss is set for fall 2016.

Briefs
Serena Burdick sold her debut novel, Girl in the Afternoon, to Laura Chasen at St. Martin’s Press. Chasen took world English rights from Stephanie Delman at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. The book, set in Paris during the belle epoque, was, Delman said, “pitched in the vein of Girl with a Pearl Earring for the Impressionist era.” The sale marks Delman’s first at SJGA...The Courier, the debut novel by Gerald Brandt, was acquired by Sheila Gilbert at Daw in a preempt. Sara Megibow at KT Literary brokered the sale, her first at the agency. The book, which is set for 2016, takes place in Los Angeles in the near future and follows, Megibow said, a motorcycle courier who “escapes to the meanest of streets after witnessing the murder of one of her corporate clients.”

Correction: Per information submitted by the publisher after the original release of this story, this article has been updated to reflect the fact that Alwyn Hamilton's Rebel of the Sands is set in the fictional world of Miraji, not Mirahin. Additionally, William Morrow took world rights, not North American, in its deal with Susan Wiggs.