Lindsey Hall at Tor took world English rights to Seek the Traitor’s Son and an untitled sequel by Veronica Roth (pictured l.) from Jo Volpe and Jordan Hill at New Leaf Literary & Media, for release next May. The “epic romantic dystopian fantasy,” per the publisher, “finds Elegy Ahn happy with her life as a soldier fighting the Talusar when she and the most ruthless of Talusar generals are summoned to hear a prophecy: one of them will lead their people to victory over the other, and at the center of both their fates is a man Elegy is destined to fall in love with.” (Photo credit: Nelson Fitch)

Jill Bialosky at Norton acquired North American rights to One Boat by Jonathan Buckley from Jacques Testard at Fitzcarraldo. The 2025 Booker Prize–longlisted novel, per the publisher, “follows the journey of Teresa, who returns to a small town on the Greek coast after the death of her father—the same place she visited when grieving her mother nine years earlier. Immersing herself in the life of the town, she observes the inhabitants going about their lives—a backdrop for her reckoning with herself.” Publication is set for September.

Dave McBride at Princeton University Press secured world English rights to Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein’s Animals Matter from Sarah Chalfant at the Wylie Agency. The book, the publisher said, “offers a bold new account of why we must change our practices to reduce unjustified suffering, comparing the animal rights movement with previous causes that exploded in size once they passed a threshold moment—including civil rights, same-sex marriage, MAGA, and #MeToo.” Publication is set for next year.

Emily Archbold at Del Rey netted world English rights, in a two-book deal, to Danielle L. Jensen’s fantasy romance Defy the Dusk,
in an exclusive submission, from Tamar Rydzinski at Context Literary Agency. Sam Bradury at Del Rey UK preempted U.K. rights. The book, the publisher said, follows “survivors of an apocalypse who have banded together in high-speed convoys that must outrun the dusk or face what rises in the dark.” No release date has been announced.

Joey McGarvey at Spiegel & Grau picked up world rights to the memoir Mapping My Way Home by Diane Wilson, alongside an untitled sequel to her bestselling novel The Seed Keeper, from Jacqui Lipton at the Tobias Agency, slated for publication in summer 2027 and spring 2028, respectively. The memoir, per the publisher, follows “the loss of Wilson’s husband alongside the transformation of her grief and of the landscape where they made their home,” while the novel “continues the story of two Dakhóta families.”

In Brief

  • Lizzie Poteet at Ballantine acquired world English rights to Penelope Sky’s The Fifth Republic series from Mark Gottlieb at Trident Media Group. The first title, The Butcher, set for release next year, follows, per the agency, “a brokenhearted woman who falls for the most dangerous man in Paris—a ruthless crime lord.”

  • Lauren Marino, while at Hachette Go, preempted North American rights to comedian Kevin James Thornton’s memoir Big Baby: On Endings, Beginnings, and an Interdimensional Cat, from Allison Hellegers at Stimola Literary Studio, for a June 2026 release. Ian Dorset at Grand Central will edit.

  • Alexandra Hightower at Requited took world English rights, in a two-book deal, to Elizabeth Agyemang’s adult debut, Divine Oaths, a “dark academia following a young psychic at a prestigious university with a weighty history,” from Suzie Townsend at New Leaf, for release next fall.

  • Megha Parekh at Mindy’s Book Studio preempted world English rights to Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Read Between the Lies, a thriller “about two rival authors and one shared secret,” from Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management, for release next February.