Sian Bayley

Black & White has acquired Growing Brave and four more titles from bestselling poet, Donna Ashworth.  

Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, an imprint of The Quarto Group, has triumphed in a six-way auction for three new picture books from author-illustrator Bethan Woollvin. 

Penguin Michael Joseph has snared epic fantasy trilogy Firstborn of the Sun by Marvellous Michael Anson, with the first book publishing in 2025.

Hodder Press will publish Synchronized: The Science of How and Why We Bond, the first book by world-leading psychologist and neuroscientist Ruth Feldman.  

Jodie Lancet-Grant, associate publisher at Bluebird, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) in a four-way auction for Stress: Tested: The New Science of Stress Hormones and What To Do About Them.

Hamish Hamilton has signed a major new project from author Robert Macfarlane, in collaboration with actor-musician Johnny Flynn and artist Dave McKean, retelling the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, as a graphic novel.

Sphere has pre-empted former TV producer Sue Hincenbergs’ ’deliciously dark’ The Retirement Plan as the début is sold in a further 10 markets worldwide.

Hot Key Books has bought a “gripping” YA fantasy, Damien Ike and the Fallen House of Draven, from David Arlo and Dee Benson.

Gollancz has triumphed in a “ferocious” 10-way bidding war for The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Nero Award-shortlisted author Lex Croucher in a six-figure deal for two standalones.

South American authors account for almost a quarter of this year’s International Booker Prize longlist, with books representing Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Venezuela in what organisers say is a second “boom” in Latin American fiction.