Monica Perez at Charlesbridge has bought Karol Ruth Silverstein's debut YA novel, Cursed. Erica "Ricky" Bloom, recently diagnosed with a chronic illness that's nearly as embarrassing as it is painful, employs her best coping mechanisms—cursing and cutting class—to deal with pain, family upheaval, and the challenges of school. When she's caught, she must struggle to catch up to avoid a far worse horror: repeating ninth grade. Publication is set for spring 2019.
Deal Announcement: OTHER
Karol Ruth Silverstein's OTHER, to Laurie Hermann at Redleaf Lane, for publication in July 2019, by Jen Linnan at Linnan Literary Management (world).
OTHER is a picture book about the "other" cat in the neighborhood, the one without a home. But he's not without friends: a child is determined to find shelter for Other before winter comes.
Deal Announcement: GIRL TOWN
Ignatz Award–winner Carolyn Nowak sold her debut comics collection, GIRL TOWN, to Leigh Walton at Top Shelf Productions.
Nowak won the Ignatz for her online comic Radishes, which follows two teenagers who skip school one day to go to what the publisher calls the “local fantasy market.”
GIRL TOWN will collect Radishes along with, Top Shelf said, “several other stories about young women seeking connection.” Jen Linnan, who has an eponymous shingle, represented Nowak. GIRL TOWN is slated for fall 2018.
PW: Nowak Takes Debut Collection to Top Shelf
Deal Announcement: A MAP TO THE SUN
Photo credit: Brandon O'Larey
Sloane Leong's A MAP TO THE SUN, to Calista Brill at First Second Books, for publication in 2019, by Jen Linnan at Linnan Literary Management (world).
Summers always seem to burn bright and fast for Ren but never faster than when she met Luna. Daring and independent, Luna and Ren spend their last middle school break together, only to have their short whirlwind friendship end with Luna’s sudden move away and all without a goodbye.
Two rough high school years later and Ren is being forced to join a basketball team for her poor school record with a crew of other misfits or face expulsion…and as quick as she left, Luna is back and ready to play too. Cliques, bullies, gangs, crushes, rivals and basketball: summer is back with a vengeance.
BookRiot: Exclusive Art Reveal of A Map to the Sun
Deal Announcement: HEARTSEEKER
Arianne Lewin at Putnam has acquired Melinda Beatty's middle grade debut HEARTSEEKER, about Only Fallow, whose ability to see lies means she must leave everything she's known behind to serve her King, while his enemies aim to make sure she never reaches the castle alive. It's scheduled for publication in 2018; Jen Linnan at Linnan Literary Management did the two-book deal.
Deal Announcement: STAGE DREAMS
Melanie Gillman's YA graphic novel STAGE DREAMS, a queer western romance set in New Mexico Territory at the start of the Civil War, following Grace, a young trans girl runaway, who joins forces with a charismatic lesbian stagecoach robber to steal important plans from the invading Confederate army, to Greg Hunter at Graphic Universe, for publication in spring 2019, by Jen Linnan at Linnan Literary Management.
Women Write About Comics: Melanie Gillman's STAGE DREAMS: A Story of Queer Romance and Espionage!
Deal Announcement: THIMBLE
Sarah W. Searle's middle grade graphic novel THIMBLE, which follows 12-year-old Harriet Flores across a restless late summer in 1996 as she struggles with a move from rural Indiana to Chicago, a one-sided penpal situation, chronic illness, and the idea that her new landlady has stored a dark secret on the unoccupied top floor of their building, to Greg Hunter at Graphic Universe, for publication in fall 2019, by Jen Linnan at Linnan Literary Management.
A.V. Club: Sarah W. Searle announces her new coming-of-age graphic novel THIMBLE
Deal Announcement: THE WITCH BOY
Molly Knox Ostertag
Amanda Maciel at Scholastic Press has acquired Molly Knox Ostertag's THE WITCH BOY, a middle-grade graphic novel about a young boy growing up in a magical community where all men are trained as shapeshifters and all women as witches. When a mysterious foe from his family's past reappears, Aster is the only one who can help them - but to do so, he'll have to reveal he's broken with tradition and learned witch magic in secret. Publication is set for 2018. Jen Linnan negotiated the deal for world rights.
Molly Knox Ostertag grew up in the forests of upstate New York. She studied cartooning at SVA in New York City and now lives in Los Angeles, where she enjoys the beach year-round but misses good bagels. She has a perfect tiny cat and draws the webcomic Strong Female Protagonist.
PW Rights Report: Week of July 18, 2016.
Deal Announcement: I WANT YOU
Madeleine Flores
I want... a cat cafe near my office. Please?
Children's: Young Adult / Graphic Novel
Madeleine Flores' YA graphic novel I WANT YOU, about a girl working in her brother's cat cafe who has a secret magical ability that allows her to get whatever she wishes for whenever she says “I want,” to Ari Yarwood at Oni Press, for publication in 2018, by Jen Linnan at Linnan Literary Management (World).
Deal Announcement: THISBY THESTOOP AND THE BLACK MOUNTAIN
Zac Gorman
Winter 2018 can't come soon enough!
Children's: Middle Grade
Zac Gorman's THISBY THESTOOP AND THE BLACK MOUNTAIN, an illustrated series about a twelve-year-old girl who becomes gamekeeper at a massive dungeon full of monsters and winds up having to save the princess when a royal tour goes awry, to David Linker at Harper Children's, in a two-book deal, for publication in Winter 2018, by Jen Linnan at Linnan Literary Management (World).