Romanian Author's Novel Sparks International Pre-empts
Marilia Savvides of Peters Fraser + Dunlop (PFD) is submitting a novel by a Romanian author who is now writing in English. Since being submitted last Wednesday, she has accepted six foreign pre-empts with a flurry of offers coming in from other territories. The book, called The Book of Mirrors by E.O. Chirovici, is being compared to The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair, and is about a literary agent, Peter Katz, who receives a partial manuscript from a man who was connected to a famous Princeton professor who was murdered in the 1980s. Katz tries to find out if the writer had anything to do with the crime. Pre-empts have been made by Longanesi (Italy), AW Bruna (The Netherlands), and others, and there is currently an 11-way German auction. The UK auction will begin today, and there are currently offers from including France, Sweden, Brazil, among other territories. The Bookseller recently ran a feature on the book.
Taiwanese Adult Coloring Book Racks Up Foreign Sales
Wonderland, an adult coloring book by the Taiwanese artist Amily Shen, is racking up foreign sales. The book was originally published by Delight Press in Taiwan in April, and Gray Tan of the Grayhawk Agency is handling all rights. At press time, 11 international deals had closed with four more in negotiation. Publishers include Zito in China, Hans Media (Korea), Kosmos (the Netherlands) and Ten Speed Press in the U.S. The book is partly inspired by Alice in Wonderland: its illustrations show a girl going down a rabbit hole and discovering a new world.
Memoir By Wife of Imprisoned Saudi Blogger Gains Attention
Ensaf Haidar, the wife of Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger who was imprisoned for criticizing the regime's clerics, has written a book that will originally be published by Luebbe in Germany in October. Barbara J. Zitwer is selling world rights on behalf of Christine Proske of Ariadne Buch to Raif Badawi: The Voice of Freedom, My Husband, Our Story, cowritten with Claudia Andrea Hoffmann. Additional sales include to Archipel in France, and Little, Brown UK (with Richard Beswick acquiring). Badawi is currently in prison awaiting a sentence of 1,000 lashes. Haidar was recently featured in The Washington Post.
Finnish Picture Book Gains Steam Abroad
We recently reported on the Finnish picture book The Mercurial Mouse, which continues to collect sales. Represented by Elina Ahlback of the Elina Ahlback Literary Agency, Scribe has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in a two-book deal, and ABC Forlag has acquired Danish rights, also in a two-book deal. Ahlback reports there is also an offer in France.
