Publishers Marketplace: Jill Grinberg

Kevin Hearne's INK AND SIGIL, a spin-off of his Iron Druid Chronicles series, featuring an eccentric Scottish detective who uses pen-and-ink magic to solve supernatural mysteries—including the mystery of why his apprentices keep dying in peculiar ways, to Tricia Narwani at Del Rey, in a three-book deal, by Evan Goldfried at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).

Garth Nix's first adult novels, ANGEL MAGE, a fantasy set in an alternative 17th-century Europe feautring "beastlings, angels, and magic," and THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON, about a young art student in search of the father she never knew who wins up in "the arcane business of the booksellers whose secret sideline is to ensure that mythic entities and dormant legends do not intrude, disastrously, into the modern world," to Gillian Redfearn for Gollancz, for publication in October 2019 and 2020, by Jill Grinberg at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (UK/Commonwealth, excl. Australia).

Author of the forthcoming An Affair of Poisons Addie Thorley's NIGHT SPINNER, first in a duology, about a girl who used to be one of the greatest warriors in the Sky King's army, but after losing control of her ability to wield the threads of darkness, she's imprisoned in a monastery--until she's offered a chance at reinstatement in exchange for catching a notorious rebel, only to discover the tides of war have changed, to Ashley Hearn at Page Street, in a two-book deal, for publication in winter 2020, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world English).

Jessica Ferri's DEARLY DEPARTED: NEW YORK, for the armchair traveler, an exploration of the vibrant hidden histories of the cemeteries of New York, and their larger implications about an ever-evolving societal relationship to death, to Amy Lyons at Globe Pequot, for publication in 2020, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).

2018 Deals

Sajni Patel's THE TROUBLE WITH HATING YOU, an #OwnVoices debut about a fiercely independent Indian-American woman who defies traditional norms, especially suitors approved by her parents—and ends up running away from the one who might turn out to be Mr. Right, to Lexi Smail at Forever, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2020, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world English).

Sister-brother author duo Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina's THE THINGS SHE'S SEEN, their first co-written novel, a crossover thriller with a supernatural twist, featuring two Aboriginal girls who uncover long-buried crimes in a remote Australian town and expose a dark history of violence against women, police corruption, and systemic cultural oppression, to Nancy Siscoe at Knopf Children's, in a pre-empt, for publication in summer 2019, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management on behalf of Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown Australia (NA).

YA author Jaclyn Moriarty's GRAVITY IS THE THING, pitched as in the spirit of Maria Semple, about a cafe owner and single mother whose brother went missing the day before her 16th birthday, the same year she started receiving random chapters of a guidebook for living; now 20 years later, in the wake of a devastating dissolution of her marriage, she has received an invitation to learn the "truth" about the guidebook, propelling her on a journey toward self-realization, and a renewed search to discover what happened to her beloved brother, to Emily Griffin at Harper, by Jill Grinberg at Jill Grinberg Literary Management, on behalf of Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown Australia (NA).
Rights to Pan Macmillan Australia; also to Armchair (Israel), by Beverley Levit of The Book Publishers Association of Israel, on behalf of Jill Grinberg Literary Management.

Leah Redmond Chang's YOUNG QUEENS, about the intertwined stories of four Renaissance-era queens (Catherine de Medici, Elizabeth Tudor, Mary Stuart, and Elisabeth de Valois) who, as girls, adolescents, and young women, navigated revolutions and the rise and fall of dynasties—but learned that, for women, power always came with a price, to Eric Chinski at Farrar, Straus, by Jill Grinberg at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).
Rights to Alexis Kirschbaum at Bloomsbury UK by Grinberg; and to Mondadori in ITALY, in a pre-empt, by Chiara Piovan at The Italian Agency.
Film/TV: Matthew Snyder at CAA

Felicity McLean's THE VAN APFEL GIRLS ARE GONE, part mystery, part coming of age story, the narrator's haunting account of the long hot summer twenty years ago when three local sisters disappeared into the wilderness surrounding their remote Australian town, an unsolved mystery that has forever shaped the community and all those left behind, to Betsy Gleick at Algonquin, for publication in June 2019, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management on behalf of Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown Australia (NA).
Rights contact(s): Audio US, Canada: kendra@workman.com ; Audio UK: Alice@curtisbrown.co.uk ; Translation: Kate@curtisbrown.co.uk ; Film/TV: tara@curtisbrown.com.au
Rights previously sold to Catherine Milne at Harper Australia, in a pre-empt; to Jenny Parrott at Oneworld, by Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown UK; in France to Presses de la Cite; in Spain to Siruela.

Nora Raleigh Baskin and Gae Polisner's FINDING JOY, told in the alternating timelines of both main characters, in which one friend, present day, embarks on the traditional birthday scavenger hunt her best friend left her one year ago on the day he died, to Karen Greenberg at Knopf Children's, for publication in summer 2020, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management for Baskin and Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret for Polisner (world).

Lori Goldstein's SCREEN QUEENS, in which three girls participate in a startup incubator competition and uncover the truth about what it means to succeed in the male-dominated world of tech, to Jessica Harriton at Razorbill, for publication in summer 2019, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world).

Filmmaker and animator Peter Bunzl's THE COGHEART ADVENTURES, in which a strong-willed girl seeks the truth behind her father's disappearance with the help of a local clockmaker's son and an over-opinionated mechanical pet fox in a fantastical steampunk/Victorian world filled with murder, mayhem, and mystery, to Kelsy Thompson at Jolly Fish Press, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in spring 2019, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management on behalf of Jo Williamson at Antony Harwood Limited.

Nafiza Azad's debut THE CANDLE AND THE FLAME, set in a city along the Silk Road that has become a refuge for those of all faiths, about a young woman with mysterious origins and two clans of powerful djinn who threaten to destroy her peace in different ways, and the unlikely alliances she'll make to survive, to Lisa Sandell at Scholastic, for publication in 2019, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).

Caroline Wright's LASTING LOVE, illustrated by Willow Heath, about a parent's enduring love written especially for children facing the loss of a parent, to Caroline Abbey and Maria Modugno for the Rodale Kids, for publication in Fall 2019, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world English).

FRANKIE author Shivaun Plozza's TIN HEART, about a heart transplant recipient discovering who she is if she's no longer The Dying Girl, to Sarah Barley at Flatiron Books, by Cheryl Pientka at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).

Vanessa McGrady's memoir about navigating her own complicated family, bad boundaries, and what happens when she allows her daughter's (newly homeless) biological parents to come live with them, to Carmen Johnson at Little A, for publication in 2019, by Cheryl Pientka at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (World).

HALFWAY NORMAL and STAR-CROSSED author Barbara Dee's HOW TO SURVIVE QUICKSAND, about a seventh grade girl whose family is thrown into chaos by her older brother's diagnosis of bipolar disorder, to Alyson Heller at Aladdin, in a two-book deal, for publication in Fall 2019 and Fall 2020, by Jill Grinberg at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).

Addie Thorley's AN AFFAIR OF POISONS, pitched as a reimagining of the infamous 17th century murder scandal, in which, after unwittingly helping her mother poison King Louis XIV, a seventeen-year-old alchemist begins brewing curatives to help her former enemy undermine her mother's Shadow Society and reclaim control of Paris, to Ashley Hearn at Page Street, for publication in Winter 2019, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (World).