Tara Parsons at Amistad acquired U.S., Canadian, and open market rights, at auction, to Black, Black Bird by Krishan Trotman (pictured l.) from Johanna Castillo at Writers House. The Legacy Lit publisher’s debut novel, set in post–Civil War New York City, follows an ambitious nurse at the Colored Orphan Asylum who realizes that “peril lurks not only beyond the asylum walls but within them,” per Amistad. Publication is scheduled for summer 2027.

(photo: Nicole Naga)

Anni Liu at Graywolf acquired North American rights, in an exclusive submission, to Noor Naga’s Third Person from Nicole Aragi at Aragi Inc. The novelist’s debut memoir is set against the backdrop of “the active genocides in Palestine and Sudan” and centers on Naga’s grandmother, whose successive strokes leaves Naga’s “whole family in Egypt scrambling to cope,” per the publisher. Release is slated for fall 2027.

Hydia Scott-Riley at Emily Bestler landed North American rights, at auction, to Ready or Rot, by actor and comedian Kendahl Landreth. Sophie Brett-Chin and Steve Troha at Folio Literary Management brokered the two-book deal. The debut novel, set for summer 2027, is a “rivals-to-lovers romance following two public school teachers during the zombie apocalypse,” per the publisher. The second book is planned for summer 2028.

Kristin Sevick at Minotaur won North American rights, in a two-book deal, to Rob Shafer’s Lowdown in the High Desert from Mark Tavani at the David Black Agency. The debut “follows a gay doctor who comes home to his family’s New Mexico cattle ranch and must simultaneously confront his relationship with his estranged father and play amateur sleuth when a neighbor turns up dead,” per the agency. A 2027 release is set.

Harriet LeFavour at Bloomsbury took world all-language rights to an as-yet-untitled book by political analyst and Substack writer Michael Lange from Alia Hanna Habib at the Gernert Company. Per the publisher, the book examines New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign strategy and “what the city’s modern mayoral history, demographic shifts, and coalition realignments mean for the future of its people, the Democratic Party, and the country.” Release is scheduled for winter 2028.

Natalie Hallak at Ballantine bought, at auction, North American rights to Megan Daniels’s Time Sick from Nicole Cunningham at Trellis Literary Management. The debut novel sees “one woman travel forward five years in time to solve her own murder, only to find herself falling in love with her future self’s husband,” according to the publisher. Publication is set for spring 2027.

In Brief

  • Leila Tejani at Modern Library acquired North American rights to a new, as-yet-untitled translation, by Kaveh Akbar and Arman Salem, of the teachings of influential eighth-century Sufi mystic Rabi’a al-’Adawiyya, from Jacqueline Ko at the Wylie Agency. A spring 2028 publication is tentatively planned.

  • Riva Hocherman at Metropolitan picked up North American rights, at auction, to Johns Hopkins University professor
    and Iran expert Narges Bajoghli’s Weapons Against Humanity, “a paradigm-shifting history of the Middle East,” for a spring 2028 release. Sarah Khalil at Calligraph handled the deal.

  • Ibrahim Ahmad at Viking netted, at auction, North American rights to Resisting Autocracy: What History Teaches About Fighting Back, by historian of fascism Ruth Ben-Ghiat, from Sarah Burnes at the Gernert Company, for a spring 2028 release.

  • Marnie Cochran at Rodale bought, at auction, world rights to Zarina Del Mar’s The Way We Move, “a guide to restoring natural movement patterns, coordination, flexibility, and stability through gentle multidirectional movements,” for publication in spring 2028. Stephanie Tade, who has an eponymous agency, brokered the agreement.

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