Mitzi Angel at Farrar, Straus and Giroux acquired North American rights to a new novel by Windham-Campbell Prize–winning author Olivia Laing from PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit, on behalf of Rebecca Carter at Rebecca Carter Literary. FSG bills The Silver Book as “a queer love story and noirish thriller” about “the difficult relationship between artifice and truth, illusion and reality, and sex and power” that follows the great costume designer Danilo Donati during the filming of Fellini’s Casanova and Pasolini’s Salò in 1970s Italy. Publication is set for November.

Christine Bendorf at Keeperton secured world print rights to four books by previously self-published TikTok phenomenon Kandi Steiner from Ariele Fredman at United Talent Agency. Two sports romances, The Wrong Game and The Right Player, will be published as the Love of the Game series in June, and A Love Letter to Whiskey, billed as Steiner’s “ultimate fan favorite” and a “heartachingly powerful story of two lovers continually fighting the curse of bad timing,” is due later this year. A new, as-yet-untitled novel is set for 2026.

Mika Kasuga at Union Square & Co. took world English rights to the latest novel by Emily Bain Murphy in an exclusive submission from Pete Knapp at Park, Fine, & Brower Literary Management. The publisher bills the book, Ivory City, as “a historical mystery set against the backdrop of the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, where a young woman is murdered, suspicion falls on working-class Grace’s wealthy cousin, and she must solve the mystery to save her family before the killer strikes again.” Publication is planned for this November.

Stephanie Stein and Claire Eddy at Tor obtained North American rights, in a two-book, six-figure deal, to YA SFF author Marie Lu’s adult debut, Red City, in an exclusive submission from Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary. Pitched as “The Godfather set in an alternate world where alchemists have commercialized the philosopher’s stone,” the novel, due out in October, tells the story of two friends who are recruited by “rival alchemy syndicates and find themselves pitted against each other.”

Sara Crowe at Sara Crowe Literary sold North American rights to two books by Katie Bernet, in a six-house auction, to Sarah Barley at Sarah Barley Books. Beth Is Dead, set for the S&S imprint’s spring 2026 launch list, is billed as a contemporary riff on Little Women in which “Beth dies in the first chapter and her sisters will stop at nothing to track down her killer—until they begin to suspect each other.” Belinda Conners at PRH Australia preempted Australian and New Zealand rights, and Lauren Fortune at Scholastic UK bought U.K. rights, at auction, from Ginger Clark at Ginger Clark Literary.

In Brief

  • Tricia Narwani at Del Rey landed North American rights to screenwriter Megan Mostyn-Brown’s cannibalistic horror comedy The Need, due out in 2026, from Kelly Karczewski at UTA. U.K. rights were preempted by Nicole Witmer at Transworld from Curtis Brown’s Ciara Finan.
  • Anton Mueller at Bloomsbury bought world English rights to Being Thomas Jefferson by Andrew Burstein from Laura Gross at the eponymous shingle, for release before the sestercentennial of the Declaration of Independence.
  • M.K. Thekkumkattil, unagented, sold world rights to The Sexuality of Care, an essay collection on the medical system, transness, and patient rights, to Jeanne Thornton at Feminist Press, for a 2026 release.
  • Abby West at Amistad took North American and French rights to journalist and TV producer Robin Allison Davis’s debut memoir, Surviving Paris, due in September, from William Clark at William Clark Associates.
  • Kishani Widyaratna at 4th Estate picked up U.K. and Commonwealth rights, except in Canada, to Tony Tulathimutte’s Rejection (pubbed by Morrow in the U.S.), from Ana Ban at Trident Media, on behalf of Ellen Levine.

Correction: An earlier version of this article said Emily Bain Murphy’s deal with Union Square was for two books. It was for one.