Laura Perciasepe at Summit acquired North American rights, in a two-book deal, to 2025 Booker Prize–longlisted novel The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits (pictured l.) from Barry Harbaugh at WLA Books in his first deal as an agent. “When Tom Layward’s wife had an affair 12 years ago, he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest child left the nest,” per the publisher. “After driving his college-bound daughter to Pittsburgh, he remembers his promise to himself—and keeps driving west.” Release is set for January 2026.

Han Zhang at Riverhead secured world English rights to Prima Donna by Wang Zhanhei, a 2023 University of Iowa International Writing Program resident, in a translation from the Chinese by Dave Haysom, with Stephen Edwards at RCW Literary Agency and Peng Lun at Shanghai’s Archipel Press brokering the deal. The novel, the publisher said, “follows an unusual friendship between a young woman and a gay hairdresser from an old-fashioned neighborhood outside of Shanghai. When the young woman moves to the big city for college, the hairdresser also breaks free from his past—each on their own trajectory of transformation.” Release is set for 2027.

Kirsiah Depp at Grand Central and Eleanor Teasdale at Piatkus UK netted world rights to Megan Jauregui Eccles’s Opera Magique duo-logy from Lauren Galit at LKG Agency, after rights reverted following the collapse of ByteDance’s 8th Note Press in June. The duology, per the publisher, sees “an ambitious soprano make a blood bargain with a ghost trapped in the basement of an opera house in order to win a competition to become King’s Mage and redeem her father’s reputation.” The first title, Sing the Night, is set for release in winter 2026, with Rest the Dawn following in 2027.

Abby West at Amistad picked up world rights to Walter Mosley’s Ghalen: A Romance in Black from Gloria Loomis at Watkins/Loomis Agency. The book, per the publisher, “introduces readers to Ghalen, a brilliant young Black man shaped by his parents’ extraordinary love story, and explores themes of ambition, connection, and personal discovery while celebrating the beauty and complexity of Black identity.” Publication is set for May 2026.

Marie Michels at Pamela Dorman bought North American rights, at auction, to Katie Jung’s debut romance, You’re the One That I Haunt, in a two-book deal, from Ariele Fredman at UTA. Cara Digby-Patel at Transworld took U.K. rights. The book, per the publisher, follows “a woman who must team up with a distractingly handsome ghost to save her childhood crush—and love of her life—from a generational curse.” No publication date has been announced.

In Brief

  • Peter Hubbard at Mariner took world English rights to an untitled book by journalist Julia Angwin and former White House adviser Ami Fields-Meyer, expanding their New Yorker essay “So You Want to Be a Dissident?” from Laurie Liss at Sterling Lord Literistic. Pub date TBD.
  • Evan Phail at Diversion picked up world rights, unagented, to an untitled memoir by percussionist Ralph Johnson, a founding member of Earth, Wind & Fire, for release in May 2026.
  • Merry Sun at Norton landed U.S., Canadian, and open market rights to Learner by Trevor Ragan with Samantha Rose, on “the science of becoming better lifelong learners,” from Mark Tavani and David Black at David Black, for a 2027 release.
  • Rebecca Eckler and Chloe Robinson at Re:books acquired world rights, unagented, to Audrey Hyams Romoff’s memoir, The Ripple Eclipse: Dodging the Shrapnel of International Trauma, for a November release.
  • Jessica Bell at Vine Leaves netted world English rights to Claire Polders’s debut novel Your Body of Mine, about “two women who battle over the dominion of their single shared body,” from Marie Lamba at Jennifer De Chiara Literary, for an April 2027 release.