Australian Debut Catches in Italy
The Helpline by Katherine Collette, which will be published by Text Australia in September, has sold to Garzanti in Italy. Text controls all rights and brokered the sale. Further sales have been made to Simon & Schuster's Touchstone imprint for North American rights and to S&S in the U.K. The book is described by the publisher as a comedy about a woman who gets a job working in a local senior citizens center and gets involved in the center's feud with the golf club next door.
French Memoir Sells to Scribe
World English rights for the memoir First They Erased Our Name: A Rohingya Speaks Up by Habiburahman, with Sophie Ansel, sold to Scribe. The 2 Seas Agency represents world translation rights on behalf of Editions de la Martinière Littérature in France. The book is written by a member of the heavily persecuted, and stateless, ethnic group Rohingya. Over 1 million Rohingya had been living in Burma until, in 2016 and 2017, the Burmese military began a crackdown--considered widespread ethnic cleansing--that displaced many of these people. The author left Burma in 2001, and was granted asylum in Australia.
Finnish Lifestyle Title Moves to Asia
The Finnish lifestyle book about the Finnish trait of never giving up, Finding Sisu: In Search of Courage, Strength, and Happiness the Finnish Way, by Katja Pantzar, has now sold in 21 territories, most recently in the Asian territories of Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan. Rights are controlled by Elina Ahlback Literary. The book was published in the U.K. and U.S. earlier this year.
