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DESCRIPTION avid reader. We want future generations to grow up with his passion for books and culture. His mission to create a nation of readers is the driving force behind everything we do.
RIGHTS PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR
OVERVIEW Rights professionals and teams will be looking forward to getting back on the road in 2022, but after the remarkable success of pivots to remote working and virtual meetings highlighted here, it is clear that trading has changed for good. This eight-strong shortlist combines publishers and literary agencies, teams and individuals, and adult, specialist publishers, and all but one of the names are nominated
MARY DARBY Head of rights at the Darley Anderson Agency since 2015, Mary Darby has moved foreign rights from a subsidiary consideration to the heart of the business. There were blockbuster deals for crime behemoth Lee Child and Cathy Cassidy, but Darby and her team made life-changing differences to the income of many lesser-known authors on the agency’s books.
ALICE GRIGG As head of rights sales at Penguin Random House Children’s division, Alice Grigg has unified rights teams across the publishing powerhouse and broken trading records. She and her team were particularly strong on deals for big brands and for picture books, as well as posting solid trading in China, and they had keen eyes for digital and non- book opportunities.
PFD ADULT RIGHTS TEAM PFD’s rights trio of Rebecca Wearmouth, Lucy Barry and Antonia Kasoulidou struck nearly 300 deals in more than 40 territories in 2021. The US, Canada and China were all hot markets, and #MeetTheAuthors online events made a big difference to overseas interest. As one author put it: “They chase after a deal like a dog pursuing the postman.”
CHARLOTTE STALEY Charlotte Staley shows the huge difference a rights professional can make to small publishers. At Harriman House in 2021 she grew income from rights deals by more than 50%—with nearly 50 contracts for Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money—and overhauled rights processes, all while working part-time and handling trade sales and marketing too.
THAMES & HUDSON INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS TEAM Thames & Hudson’s eight- strong team, led by John Saunders-Griffiths above, had a record year. Co-editions and backlist reprints were the main areas of focus, and sales soared in big European territo- ries including France and Italy. Thames & Hudson’s children’s books are an increasingly important part of the mix.
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RICHARD KING Richard King became Bookouture’s head of rights last May after 10 years at Orion. Since then he has transformed the publisher’s approach to translation, film and TV rights, increasing deals four-fold and becoming integral to acquisitions as well. “I know I’ll always get the best terms possible, and that one deal will lead to another,” said one grateful author.
JESSICA NEALE Rights and contracts director Jessica Neale is one of five shortlistings for Canongate on the trade side of this year’s awards, following a stunning 12 months for overseas sales in particular. Rights income trebled thanks to phenomenal global interest in Matt Haig, though Booker shortlistee Ruth Ozeki was another star, and well over 50% of its deals were for backlist titles.
TRACY PHILLIPS Shortlisted in 2012 and 2013 while at Simon & Schuster, Tracy Phillips is now rights director at Hachette Children’s Group. She and her team of 11 steered growth across the group in co-edition and royalty deals, and behind the scenes she modernised her firm’s rights systems. “She is unflap- pable, warm and gracious,” said one overseas publisher in a testimonial.
LEE CHILD WAS
ONE OF THE BRANDS DEVELOPED LAST YEAR BY MARY DARBY
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