Jonathan Karp at Simon Six took North American rights, at auction, to Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter by astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson (pictured l.) from Betsy Lerner at DCL Agency. It’s the inaugural acquisition for Karp’s recently launched imprint at Simon & Schuster, which plans to publish six titles per year. In the book, Tyson “applies the universal laws of physics to make the case for what aliens might look like, act like, and how they might travel through the universe,” per the publisher. Release is set for May 2026.

Elisabeth Schmitz at Grove Atlantic preempted North American rights to a story collection and a novel by Jake Maynard from Martha Wydysh at Trident Media Group. Hicksters, set for winter 2027, comprises linked short stories inspired by Maynard’s hometown in rural Pennsylvania. A pub date for Jerry, a metafictional exploration of deindustrialization, teen pregnancy, and rural whiteness, has not been announced.

Hilary Teeman at Ballantine took North American rights to Natasha Lester’s Girl of the Year from Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. The novel, per the publisher, follows an intern at Vogue in 1985 who is “tasked with finding out who anonymously wrote a scandalous 20-year-old tell-all about three iconic women from the 1960s—only to find that the author isn’t just hiding their name but possibly a murder.” A summer 2027 release is set.

Michael Reynolds at Europa picked up world English rights to Cages by Chantel Acevedo from Stéphanie Abou at Massie McQuilkin & Altman. The novel, per the publisher, is a “portrait of a man seen through the eyes of those who loved him, feared him, and betrayed him, that moves between Havana during the 1962 missile crisis, London in the swinging ’60s, and Miami during the AIDS crisis.” Publication is planned for June 2026.

Alicia Clancy at Dell bought, at auction, North American rights to Andi Epimoni’s Lovestruck from Hayley Steed at Janklow & Nesbit. The novel, per the publisher, is “a second-chance romance in which the wrong human couple is struck by love’s arrow at a London café, forcing a divine breaker to join forces with her archer ex-boyfriend to set things right or risk consequences of otherworldly proportions.” Release is planned for January 2027.

Alessandra Roche at Cosmo Reads preempted U.S. Commonwealth rights, in a three-book deal, to Oath of the Chosen, by Fantasy Fangirls podcast cohost Nicole Holleman, from Ariele Fredman at UTA. The debut romantasy is pitched as How to Get Away with Murder meets The Hunger Games. A spring 2027 release is set.

In Brief

  • Peter Wolverton at St. Martin’s acquired North American English rights to journalist Stephen Harrison’s The Power of Print: The Case for Paper & Ink in the Age of Technology from Mark Gottlieb at Trident Media Group, for a late 2027 release.

  • Derek Reed at Harmony bought North American rights, at auction, to Relentless Positivity by Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, which offers insights into leadership and interpersonal communication, from Howard Yoon at WME, for a spring 2027 release.

  • Emma Hambly at Webtoon Unscrolled won world rights to Robyn Lee Hamada’s Gourmet Hound, adapted from the webcomic about a woman with uncanny senses of taste and smell, for a fall 2026 release. Hamada was unagented.

  • Claire Wachtel at Union Square bought world English rights to Mary McGarry Morris’s The Bookkeeper, a psychological portrait of a woman trapped in the pursuit of perfection, from Jennifer Weltz at JVNLA, for release in winter 2027.

  • Liz Pearsons at Thomas & Mercer took world rights, in an exclusive submission, to Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry’s Beat Me to It, a thriller about the deterioration of a once happy marriage, from Liza Fleissig at Liza Royce Agency, for a winter 2027 release.

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