Ferry’s ‘Scarecrow’ Flies to HarperCollins
In a world rights auction, HarperCollins’s Nancy Inteli bought a picture book called Scarecrow, written by Beth Ferry and illustrated by brothers Eric and Terry Fan. Kirsten Hall at Catbird Productions, who represented the Fan brothers (The Night Gardener), said the title is “a lyrical story about a scarecrow who is forever changed by an unexpected experience.” Ferry (Land Shark) was represented by Elena Giovinazzo at Pippin Properties. HC has Scarecrow slated for 2019.
Norton Lands Booker Longlister
Jill Bialosky at W.W. Norton acquired Madeleine Thien’s Do Not Say We Have Nothing in a U.S. rights deal. The novel, which was released in the U.K. in July (and in Canada in May), recently made the longlist for the Man Booker Prize. It’s about, Norton said, “two successive generations grappling with the legacy of China’s Cultural Revolution.” Norton plans to publish Do Not Say in the fall. Sarah Chalfant and Jacqueline Ko at the Wylie Agency represented Thien, who lives in Montreal.
Marshall Sends ‘Friend Request’ to GCP
Wes Miller, in his first acquisition as a senior editor at Grand Central Publishing, took North American rights, at auction, to Laura Marshall’s thriller, Friend Request. Marshall, who is British, earned a nomination for the 2016 Lucy Cavendish Award with the novel, her debut. (The Lucy Cavendish is open to young unpublished female authors and is intended to help them land publishing deals.) The book, tentatively slated for fall 2017, follows a woman whose stable life is threatened when, decades after college, she receives a friend request from a former classmate who disappeared one night under mysterious circumstances. The two-book deal was brokered by ICM’s Kari Stuart on behalf of Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown UK.
Running Press Kids Takes Vrabel Novel
For Running Press Kids, Julie Matysik took world rights to Caleb and Kit, Beth Vrabel’s coming-of-age novel. Vrabel, who was represented in the deal by Nicole Resciniti at the Seymour Agency, won the 2016 ILA Award for Intermediate Fiction for A Blind Guide to Stinkville (Sky Pony) and was nominated for the South Carolina Book Award for Pack of Dorks (Sky Pony). Matysik said Caleb and Kit, which is scheduled for September 2017, is about “a young boy with cystic fibrosis and the mysterious girl he befriends one summer in the woods behind his home.”
Lerner Listens for a Coo
Joni Sussman at Lerner’s Kar-Ben Publishing imprint nabbed world rights to author Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh and illustrator Marc Lumer’s picture book Can You Hear a Coo, Coo? The title, set for spring 2018, is, the author said, “a rhyming, rhythmic picture book about animal pairs on their way to a surprise destination—Noah’s Ark.” Kiffel-Alcheh and Lumer (Benny’s Mitzvah Notes, Hachai Publications) represented themselves in the deal.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said agent Kirsten Hall represented Beth Ferry, and that agent Elena Giovinazzo represented the Fan Brothers, in the deal for their picture book, Scarecrow. Hall represented the Fan Brothers and Giovinazzo represented Ferry.
