Maddie Caldwell at Random House preempted world rights to an untitled book on Zohran Mamdani by New York magazine journalist Ross Barkan (pictured l.) from Julie Flanagan at CAA. The book, per the publisher, offers “a deeply reported window into Mamdani’s campaign and early days as mayor of New York,” as well as “an analysis of what it means for a young democratic socialist and Muslim to run America’s largest city—and the implications for both the Democratic Party and the nation.” A pub date hasn’t been announced.

Angela Kim at Berkley picked up world English rights to Sunflower Season by Danica Nava from Laura Bradford at Bradford Literary Agency. In the novel, per the publisher, “a burnt-out Native American tech executive quits her lucrative job and returns to her small hometown to restore the old sunflower farm she loved visiting as a child, and reunites with the local fire captain who broke her heart years ago.” Publication is scheduled for fall 2026.

Daniel Slager at Milkweed landed world rights to Forrest Gander’s The Weight of a Frozen Moment and Desert Music from Michael Taeckens at Massie McQuilkin & Altman. The former, per the publisher, is “a coming-of-age novel about the friendship between two sisters in a utopian community in the Sierra Nevadas,” and is scheduled to publish in early 2027. The latter is an essay collection that explores “place, friendship, writing, and human and geological memory” and is slated for a fall 2027 pub date.

Adam Levy at Transit acquired North American rights to We Were Forbidden by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz, from Thomas Guillaume at Éditions Stock. The book, a collection of three novellas by the late Belgian author and the first new translation of Harpman’s work to appear in English since the 1990s, follows a woman who has survived an apocalyptic
war, a teenage girl at a rigid French school in 1940s Casablanca, and a young woman trapped in a loveless marriage in the Belgian bourgeoisie, the publisher said. A July 2026 release date is planned.

Callie Garnett at Bloomsbury bought North American rights to Joanna Pearson’s More Happy Love and Justine, from Marya Spence at Janklow & Nesbit. The former, per the publisher, is a short story collection about “intimacy, grief, longing, the many faces of infidelity, and the weight of expectation,” set to publish in 2027. The latter is a novel in which “a psychiatrist haunted by the disappearance of her childhood best friend jeopardizes her marriage and career when a mysterious new patient shows up,” and is scheduled for a 2028 release.

In Brief

  • Rachel Rokicki at Modern Library took North American rights to Torborg Nedreaas’s Nothing Grows by Moonlight, a “Norwegian feminist classic about one woman’s soul-shattering love affair, told over one heady, smoke-filled night,” from Amelia Evans at Penguin Random House UK, for a spring 2026 publication. Bibbi Lee will translate and Miriam Khanukaev and Talia Cieslinski will edit.

  • Adam Freudenheim at Pushkin Press bought world English rights to The Successor: Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Putin and the Decline of Modern Russia, by former Moscow Times editor-in-chief Mikhail Fishman, translated by Michele A. Berdy, from Patrick Walsh at PEW Literary, for a May 2026 release.

  • Cara Armstrong at DK netted world rights to Matt Adlard’s The Science of Baking: Everything You Need to Know to Create Perfect Sweet and Savory Bakes, Every Time from Rachel Mills at RML, for an April 2026 publication.

  • Aranya Jain at DAW took world rights to Hero Adjacent by Alexis Veenendaal, a cozy fantasy about “an elderly wizard who must reluctantly guide a gaggle of misfits to save the world,” from Madison Potter at Olswanger Literary Agency for a spring 2027 publication.

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