French Novel Set in Japan Sells Abroad
The Office of Gardens and Ponds by Didier Decoin, a novel set in Japan around the year 1000, has sold to MacLehose Press (UK), Alfaguara (Spain), and Ponte Alle Grazie (Italy). The book is about the fisherman Katsuro, who drowns himself in the river. He is gifted at catching carp, and after he dies, another villager must step up to carry out this task. French publisher Stock published this month, and they control all rights. Decoin in the author of over 20 titles.
Finnish Novel Hits Bestseller List and Racks Up Sales
The Finnish novel The Best of All Possible Worlds by Riikka Pulkkinen is controlled by Otava Group Agency, and has sold in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Hungary. The book was published in Finland this past September, and was on the Finnish fiction bestseller list since publication. The book is about an actress, Aurelia, and her family’s connection to the Berlin Wall.
Two Classic International Backlist Titles Sell in New Deals
Turkish Delight by Jan Wolkers was published by Meulenhoff in 1969 and is very well known in the Netherlands. Tin House is publishing a new English translation in the U.S. (Sam Garrett is the translator) and 2 Seas Literary Agency is handling rights. There are active rights deals in Greece, Korea, France and Germany, but it is free elsewhere. The book recounts a man's devastation after a relationship ends.
Uncertain Glory by Joan Sales, a novel first published in Catalan in the 1950s, will be published by New York Review of Books in their NYRB collection. It has also sold to China CITIC press. The book is considered a classic novel of the Spanish civil war and grants from the Ramon Llull Institute make foreign translations possible. Last year, the book was acquired by Nottetempo in Italy and Jelenkor Kiadó in Hungary. SalmaiaLit controls all rights.
