We are delighted to be capping off 2019 with the launch of our new agency website. Starting in January, we will be regularly posting news of our clients and their books.
As for 2019 — below is a year-end round-up of highlights, with huge thanks to our wonderful authors.
Domestic and Foreign Deals
Our authors’ work generated nearly 150 deals across foreign, domestic, audio, film, and other subsidiary rights.
We made more than 80 foreign deals in 29 languages, and had two first time language deals:
Macedonian (Leil Lowndes, her 27th language)
Sinhala / Sri Lanka (Marissa Meyer, her 37th language)
Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s The Book of Boy hit 10 foreign territories, and Jennifer L. Holm’s The Fourteenth Goldfish hit 18 languages.
Film, TV and Multimedia
We made strides in new media this year, and had two properties hit TV screens here and abroad.
Jennifer and Matt Holm’s Squish animated series began airing internationally, and George Pendle’s Strange Angel TV series aired its second season on CBS All Access.
Our film/TV option deals for the year ranged from middle grade fiction: Garth Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom, John Marciano’s Witches of Benevento (co-created with Sophie Blackall), and Christopher Healy’s The Hero’s Guide To Saving Your Kingdom — to young adult: Marissa Meyers’ Lunar Chronicles, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies and Leviathan, Sean Williams’ Impossible Music, Justine Larbalestier’s My Sister Rosa, and Lili Wilkinson’s After the Lights Go Out — to adult fiction: Kevin Hearne’s The Iron Druid Chronicles — and adult nonfiction: Colin Woodard’s American Nations.
We did our first ever Virtual Reality film option, for Margo Lanagan’s acclaimed short story “Singing My Sister Down”.
A short film based on Ellen Klages’s story “Amicae Aeternum” received a Van Gogh award from the Amsterdam International Film Festival, the Special Jury Award for the Best International Short.
Two of our favorite actors have teamed up with our authors to co-develop and produce film/TV projects — Ally Sheedy, with author Rachel DeWoskin for her adult novel Banshee; and Miriam Shor, with author Ali Smith for her adult memoir Ballad of the Speedball Baby.
Awards and Nominations
We’re thrilled that our authors were honored with a slew of awards and nominations this year.
Catherine Gilbert Murdock won the Newbery Honor for The Book of Boy; Nafiza Azad was named a Morris Award Finalist for her debut novel, The Candle and the Flame; Ellen Klages received the New York Historical Society Children’s Book Prize and the Ohioana Book Award for her middle grade novel, Out of Left Field; Jaclyn Moriarty’s The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars won the Queensland Literary Awards Children’s Book Prize; Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina’s Catching Teller Crow (US: The Things She’s Seen) won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for YA Fiction; Peter Bunzl’s Sky Circus made the Carnegie Medal longlist; Melina Marchetta and Margo Lanagan were nominated for a second year in a row for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award; Margo Lanagan’s Phantom Limbs was a World Fantasy Award Finalist for Best Collection; Lili Wilkinson’s After the Lights Go Out was shortlisted for Australia’s Gold Inky Award; and Scott Westerfeld’s Impostors was a Locus Award Finalist for Best YA Book.
Bestsellers
We had numerous bestsellers, most notably on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal lists:
Melanie Katzman’s Connect First was a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller; Marissa Meyer’s Renegades trilogy made its debut onto the New York Times series bestseller list; Jennifer and Matt Holm’s Sunny Rolls the Dice appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for Graphic Novels and Manga; and Colin Woodard’s American Nations became a Wall Street Journal bestseller 8 years after its publication.
There is so much more to celebrate when it comes to our authors and their accomplishments in 2019 — like Alissa Quart’s Squeezed entering the political vernacular; Chesa Boudin being elected District Attorney of San Francisco; Tiffany Pham and her global company Mogul hosting their groundbreaking MOGUL X conference; Polo Tate giving her deeply inspiring TedX talk about Finding Your Joy; Barbara Dee making waves with her #MeToo middle grade novel Maybe He Just Likes You; Amy Richards’s foray into children’s books with the launch of We Are Makers; and Garth Nix, Marissa Meyer, and Andy Griffiths embarking on lengthy, very successful national and international tours. We’re excited to now have this designated venue for sharing all of this kind of news and more going forward.
Thank you to all of our agent and publisher partners, and first and foremost our authors, for another fruitful and inspiring year. The new year promises to be an exciting one with the launch of much-anticipated Winter and Spring 2020 titles like Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism, Alaya Dawn Johnson’s debut literary novel Trouble the Saints, stunning new editions of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series with cover art by Tomer Hanuka, Sajni Patel’s contemporary romance debut The Trouble With Hating You, and many more.
Happy holidays to all! See you here in the new year.
