Rights Roundup: London Book Fair on the Horizon

In Feature Articles by Erin L. Cox

Ahead of London, this month’s roundup features two fascinating novels, one hilarious and informative children’s book, and a chance to share any pre-fair deals in next week’s LBF preview.

The exhibition floor at London Book Fair. Image: LBF

By Erin L. Cox, Publisher | @erinlcox

Share your hot deals ahead of London Book Fair
In a little over a week, many of us will be heading to the London Book Fair. As previously reported, next year the book fair will be moving to Excel, so we must get our last pints at The Hand & Flower before the move.

Next week, we will be publishing our London Book Fair preview featuring important speakers, can’t-miss events, and some of the pre-fair deals and hot books to look out for.

Publishing Perspectives wants to hear from you about what books you’re bringing to London and any deals you want to report ahead of the book fair. Share those at this link for a chance to be featured in our LBF preview and on our social media channels.

RIGHTS ROUNDUP

The Publishing Perspectives Rights Roundup features books supplied by agents and rights directors. If you’d like to submit a deal to Publishing Perspectives, see the instructions at the end of this article.

Esther, the Butcher
By Mariia Niskavaara

  • Publisher: Kosmos
  • Rights contact: Toomas Aasmäe, Bonnier Rights Finland
  • Book info: Read more here

Reported rights sales:

  • Newest: Catalan rights, La Magrana
  • World English, Grove Atlantic – 2-book deal / Brazilian Portuguese, Intrinseca / Croatia, Fraktura / Denmark, Gads Forlag / Estonia, Rahva Raamat /France, Robert Laffont / Germany , Insel / Greece, Ikaros / Hungary,  Sárközy & Company / Iceland, Benedikt / Italy, Ponte alle Grazie / Lithuania, Alma littera /Norway, Aschehoug / Poland, Foksal / Portugal, Relógio D’Água / Sweden, Norstedts / The Netherlands, De Arbeiderspers – 2-book deal /World Spanish, Salamandra.

The world conquering debut novel that received 19 pre-empts in 2 weeks
Winner of the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize

Set in a town dominated by a meat factory, Esther, The Butcher follows Esther who grows up working at a butcher’s shop and longs to have a baby.

Esther is gifted with an uncanny ability to understand the language of meat yet her craft cannot satisfy the fierce longing that consumes her: the desire to reproduce. When an artificial inseminator enters her life, hope flickers—but no child comes.

Esther’s story unfolds as a darkly comic, absurdist tale — oscillating between humor and existential melancholy, creating a tone that is at once intriguing and strangely tender.

Esther, the Butcher showcases Mariia Niskavaara’s extraordinary talent and imagination. Her portrayal of the microcosm of a small factory-town is both razor-sharp and deliciously twisted.

When Grandma Danced in the Rain
By Trude Teige

  • Publisher: Aschehoug
  • Rights contact: Anna Richter, Nordin Ringhof Agency Copenhagen
  • Book info: Read more here

Reported rights sales :

  • Newest: Poland, Luna
  • Arabic, Dar Al-Muna / Bulgaria, Perseus / Croatia, Petrine Knjige / Czech Republic, Prostor / Denmark, Alpha / Estonia, Tänapäev / Finland, WSOY / France, City Édition / Germany, S. Fischer / Hungary, Maxim / Italy, Fazi / Netherlands, Ambo|Anthos / Norway, Aschehoug / Poland, Luna / Portugal, Presença / Sweden, Bazar /
    Turkey, ketebe /World English, Blackstone Publishing

Inspired by actual people and events, the book was nominated for the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize and the trilogy has sold over 200,000 copies in Norway. When Grandma Danced in the Rain became one of the bestselling books in Germany in 2023 and remained on the bestseller lists for over a year.

When Juni returns to the house of her deceased grandparents on a small Norwegian island, she finds a photograph showing her grandmother Tekla as a young woman with a German soldier. Who is the unknown man?

Juni can no longer ask anyone. Her search for the truth takes her to Berlin and to the small town of Demmin where hundreds of families died in May 1945.

Juni realizes that this is about much more than a secret love. And that her discoveries have consequences for her own happiness.

Marvelous Poo

Written and illustrated by Mathis

  • Publisher: La Doux 
  • Rights contact: Florence Pariente, Ttipi agency
  • Book info: Read more here

Reported rights sales:

  • Newest: Spanish and Catalan, Edelvives
  • Dutch, Parade /Italian, Il Castoro / Basque, Ttarttalo / English, Postwave

A universal theme brilliantly explored through an engaging mix of comic strips, factual pages, mini-inventories—and even a song!

A number one read about number two.

Blending early learning and nonfiction, Mathis invents a hilarious and informative “poo-talogue” to satisfy every child’s endless fascination with poo.

With his sharp wit, boundless creativity, humor, and deep understanding of toddlers, Mathis delivers an inventive board book that will have both children and adults in stitches.

Interested in seeing more international titles available for translation? Visit Frankfurt Rights: the platform helps editors and rights buyers discover content across all genres, connect with rightsholders worldwide and access relevant rights information in one place. Frankfurt Rights is operated by Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH.

 

Submitting Rights Deals to Publishing Perspectives

Do you have rights deals to report? Agents and rights directors can use our rights deal submission form to send us information about their books for consideration. For questions or to inquire about the cost of guaranteeing your book is featured, email Erin Cox at erin@publishingperspectives.com.

We look forward to hearing from you.

More of Publishing Perspectives‘ rights roundups are here, and more from us on international rights is here.

About the Author

Erin L. Cox

Erin L. Cox is the Publisher of Publishing Perspectives. She has spent more than 25 years on the business development and promotional side of the publishing industry, working in book publicity at Scribner and HarperCollins, advertising sales and marketing at The New Yorker, and consulting with publishers, literary organizations, book fairs, writers, and technology companies serving the publishing industry. Cox is also the Publisher of Words & Money, a new media site focused on centering libraries in the publishing conversation.