Schauer of IVP Kids Signs Pair of Authors
IVP executive editor Elissa Schauer has signed prolific young-reader author Mitali Perkins to a world rights deal for the tentatively titled Big Changes, Fresh Starts: Praying the Beatitudes with Jesus. Perkins is author of You Bring the Distant Near, which was nominated for a National Book Award, and Rickshaw Girl (which was adapted into a film). In her first book with IVP Kids, the publisher says Perkins aims to help children pray the Beatitudes in times of change or stress. She was represented by Laura Rennert of Andrea Brown Literary. A spring 2026 publication is planned.
IVP’s Schauer has also taken world rights to writer and artist Sandra Scott-Revelle’s Stitches and Sacred Stories. Mary DeMuth of Mary DeMuth Literary was agent for the deal. Written for children ages 6-12, Stitches offers stories of people who escaped from slavery paired with an original piece of Scott-Revelle’s art to illustrate. The book is set for a fall 2026 release.
Journalist Addresses Alcohol Use
Susan Andreone at Legacy Management negotiated world rights with IVP Trade Editor Kelli Trujillo for the tentatively titled Grace in a Glass by freelance journalist and author Ericka Andersen. According to the publisher, Andersen looks candidly at drinking habits and alcohol-dependence among Christian women from her perspective as one who is on her own sobriety journey after confronting the impact her private drinking habits were having on her life and faith. The book is scheduled for a spring 2026 release.
Catholic Female Embodiment to Image
Matthew Burdette, editor at Image, an imprint of Penguin Random House, has acquired world rights from Keely Boeving at WordServe Literary to Saving the Second Sex: Feminism and the Female Body by Serena Sigillito, founding editor of the website and journal Fairer Disputations. Combining reporting and social commentary, history, philosophy, and Catholic theology, Sigillito makes a case for “sex-realist feminism,” the publisher says, "which affirms the power of female embodiment and motherhood without denying the gains of modern feminism." The book is scheduled for fall 2026.
Mother/Son Devotional to WaterBrook
Bunmi Ishola, children’s editor at WaterBrook, has acquired world rights to You Are Seen: Daily Encouragement for Stressed and Anxious Teens by Amber Lia and her teen son, Ollie Lia. Janet Kobobel Grant of Books & Such Literary Management handled the deal. The mother/son duo offer 90 devotions that will encourage pre-teens and teens. The authors say the idea came to them in 2023 when Ollie shared his journey through anxiety with an Instagram ministry he started. The book will be published in September 2025.
Rom-Com to IVP
Cindy Bunch at IVP has landed world right for the rom-com tentatively titled This Gladsome Light by Kimberlee Conway Ireton, the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction titles and a founding member of The Cultivating Project and columnist for Cultivating Magazine. Cynthia Ruchti of Books & Such Literary Management brokered the deal. The novel is set for a winter 2026 publication.
