Australian Novel Heats Up
Dying: A Memoir, by Cory Taylor, has picked up a number of foreign sales after being released by Australia's Text Publishing in May. Taylor is the author of numerous books, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize-winning Me and Mr. Booker, and wrote this memoir in the weeks before she died of melanoma-related cancer. The book was helped along by a strong critical reception and was blurbed by authors like Julian Barnes and Margaret Drabble. Text Publishing controls all rights and, so far, Dying has sold in Germany (Allegria), the U.K. (Canongate), the U.S. (Tin House) and to houses in Greece, the Netherlands, and Czech Republic.
Finnish Novel Sells in Italy
Roots by Miika Nousiainen, a Finnish author known for his books Raspberry Boat Refugee and In the Long Run, is attracting buyers outside the author's native country. The novel, which will be published by Otava in September, sold this month to Brombergs (Sweden) and Iperborea (Italy). Elina Ahlback at the Elina Ahlback Agency controls all rights. Like the author's previous books, Roots will premiere as a play in November at the Finnish National Theatre. The novel follows a man whose father abandoned him as a boy. Years later, he discovers he has a brother who was also abandoned. Together, the newfound siblings try to learn more about their father.
Kurbjuweit's 'Fear' Spreads Beyond Germany
In another transaction involving Text Publishing, the German novel Fear, by Dirk Kurbjuweit, was acquired by the Australian house in a world rights deal (excluding Hungarian and German rights). Originally published by Rowholt in 2014, the thriller follows a man in jail for murdering someone who was stalking his family. Text will be publishing the book in February and will be touting it as one of its top titles at the Frankfurt Book Fair this fall. Prior to the Text deal, Rowohlt sold the book to Hungarian publisher Athenaeum.
Novel About Dali's Wife Continues to Draw Suitors
Gali-Dali by Carmen Domingo, about Salvador Dali's wife, Gala, and her relationship with her painter-husband, continues to sell in Europe. The book, originally published in June by Spanish house Espasa/Grupo Planeta, most recently sold to Laguna in Serbia and Editura Humanitas in Romania. These sales follow on the heels of deals with France's Presses de la Cité, Colibri in Bulgaria, and Poland's Swiat Ksiazki. Barcelona-based Pontas Literary & Film Agency controls all rights all rights to the book.
