Caroline Bleeke and Maxine Charles at Flatiron bought, at auction, in a two-book deal, world English rights to Conjure the Bones by Dhonielle Clayton (pictured l.) from Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary & Media. Clayton’s adult debut, per the publisher, is a “romantic contemporary fantasy novel set within the decadent magical wards of New Orleans, about a woman whose otherworldly inheritance is threatened when she is pulled back toward the forbidden love who got away.” Release is set for winter 2027, with an as-yet-untitled sequel to follow.

(photo: Jess Andree)

Laura Perciasepe at Summit preempted world English rights to The Book of Contraband by Pablo Maurette, from Andrea Montejo at Indent Agency, on behalf of Anagrama. The novel, which won Spain’s 2025 Herralde Prize, centers on a stolen inheritance, and is part “literary detective story, family saga, and a raucous retelling of Argentinean history,” per the publisher. Robin Myers will translate. No pub date has been announced.

Laura Tisdel at Viking Penguin landed North American rights to Welcome to the Club by Ada Calhoun from Daniel Greenberg at Levine Greenberg Rostan. The book, per the publisher, “tracks the author’s search for connection by returning to the American tradition of joining social clubs”—from local garden clubs to the Jane Austen Society to YMCA mahjong groups—“and finding unexpected community, a balm for loneliness, and means to nurture the playful side of identity too easily muffled by optimization culture.” Release is scheduled for January 2027.

Jonathan Burnham, president and publisher of Harper, acquired U.S. Commonwealth rights to Barbara Kingsolver’s Partita from Sam Stoloff of the Frances Goldin Literary Agency. The book—a “deeply moving novel about life and art,” per the publisher—is Kingsolver’s first since winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2022 for Demon Copperhead and follows Livia Cable, a onetime aspiring pianist who has “made her peace with her marriage and modest livelihood in the farm country where she grew up, until a shocking phone call from an old lover shakes her to the core.” Publication is slated for October.

Ruoxi Chen and Molly Donovan at Putnam bought world rights, at auction, in a two-book deal, to Tea & Time Loops by Amanda Williams, from Deidre Knight and Tyler Knight at the Knight Agency. The debut novel, per the publisher, is a “queer cozy fantasy meets cozy mystery,” pitched as “Legends & Lattes meets The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by way of TJ Klune.” Publication is planned for spring 2027, with the second, as-yet-untitled book slated for spring 2028.

In Brief

  • Andy Ward at Random House landed world rights to two books from Booker Prize winner George Saunders, an untitled novel and a nonfiction book about writing in the vein of A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, from Esther Newberg at CAA. Pub dates have not been announced.

  • Ian Dorset at Grand Central won world rights to New York Times television editor Jeremy Egner’s School of Rock: An Oral History, a behind-the-scenes look at the 2003 film, from Rick Richter at Aevitas Creative Management, for a September
    2028 publication.

  • Jillian Ramirez at Bloomsbury preempted North American rights to Manola Gonzalez Rosillo’s debut novel, Gringas, about three generations of women in the U.S. and Mexico, each named Luisa, from Jade Wong-Baxter at Frances Goldin, for a winter 2028 release.

  • Kristin Sevick at Minotaur bought North American English-language rights to Edgar Award winner T. Jefferson Parker’s Gone at First Light, about a homicide detective forced to hunt the brutal killer of his ex-sister-in-law, a famed Laguna Beach therapist, from Mark Gottlieb at Trident Media Group, for a fall or winter 2026 publication.

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