FSG Lands Two by Choi
National Book Award winner Susan Choi (Trust Exercise) has sold North American rights to Flashlight to Farrar, Straus and Giroux editor-in-chief Jenna Johnson as part of a two-book deal. Jin Auh at the Wylie Agency brokered the agreement. FSG said Flashlight is a “thrilling, globe-spanning new novel that mines questions of memory, language, identity, nationality; what it means to be in a family—and to lose one; what it means to love someone—and to lose them; and how these losses shape who we are.” Flashlight is set for a June 2025 publication. No details were released on the second book in the deal.
S&S Signs French Bestseller
After an auction, Marysue Rucci and Emma Taussig at Rucci’s eponymous Simon & Schuster imprint and Nicole Winstanley at S&S Canada have jointly acquired North American rights to The Barman of the Ritz by Philippe Collin. The publisher said the debut novel, a major bestseller in France, is “a tale of loyalty, betrayal, and love, inspired by the celebrated real-life Ritz bartender Frank Meier, who remained at the storied hotel throughout the Nazi occupation of Paris, all the while concealing his Jewish heritage.” Susanna Lea at Susanna Lea Associates negotiated the deal. The Barman of the Ritz will be published in spring 2026.
Graywolf Inks Deal with NBCC Winner
Graywolf executive editor Jeff Shotts has taken world rights to poet and artist Layli Long Soldier’s WE. Long Soldier’s 2017 poetry collection WHEREAS won the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Graywolf said WE is a “multigenre” work—including poetry, essays, visual art, and photographs—that emanates from the English first-person-plural we and the Lakota word WÉ, meaning blood.” Long Soldier is unagented. The book is set for a fall 2026 publication.
Paul Sells Two Horror Novels to Shortwave
Christoph Paul, editor-in-chief of Clash Books, has sold world English rights to two horror novels, The Haunted House That Swallowed the Universe and Mummies and Sorcerers in South Boston, to Alan Lastufka at Shortwave. Paul said The Haunted House “follows a group of humans, enslaved by aliens, who are sent back to an uninhabitable Earth to retrieve advanced technology hidden in an abandoned mansion, only to discover it’s a haunted house,” while Mummies centers on “a Spielberg-hating YouTuber who must prevent a mummy from taking over his South Boston neighborhood.” Michael Mungiello at InkWell Management negotiated the deal. Both books are set for spring 2026.
Amazon Takes Oliver’s Latest
Carmen Johnson at Amazon Publishing has bought world rights, excluding the U.K. and Commonwealth, to What Happened to Lucy Vale by Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall), her first new novel in more than five years. Stephen Barbara at InkWell Management represented the author. Barbara said the book follows a mother and daughter’s “sudden arrival to a small, close-knit community, where their decision to take possession of the town’s most notorious house raises suspicions about their connection to the tragedy that unfolded there.” Publication is scheduled for September 2025.
Rock and Roll Lives at Diversion
Keith Wallman at Diversion has acquired world rights to Rock and Roll Will Never Die by Craig Inciardi, founding curator of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Rick Richter at Aevitas Creative Management brokered the deal. Diversion said the book chronicles the author’s mission to build the museum’s collection from scratch—“a wild ride that would take him from Ozzy Osbourne’s country manor to Keith Moon’s childhood bedroom, to Art Garfunkel’s personal archives,” and includes “never-revealed stories about rock icons.” The book is slated for a fall 2025 publication.
