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Macneal’s Factory goes global T


WORDS Tom Tivnan Macneal


HE MADELEINE MILBURN Agency (MMA) has orchestrated a major UK deal for a “‘Fargo’ meets ‘Broadchurch’” crime series, while handling a “record-breaking” number of auctions for Elizabeth Macneal’s The Doll Factory. Territories continue to rack up for Macneal’s The Doll Factory, won by Picador in the UK aſter a 14-way auction. MMA founder Milburn, who called the novel a “magnetic début that will appeal to readers of historical and contemporary fiction”, sold North American rights to Emily Bestler for her eponymous Simon & Schuster imprint. MMA’s rights agent Alice Sutherland-Hawes has sewn up 20 translation deals, including French (Presse de la Cité), German (Eichborn/Lübbe), Italian (Einaudi) and Spanish (Ediciones B). Meanwhile, Constable publishing director


Krystna Green has acquired UK and Common- wealth rights from Milburn for three books in Charlie Bird’s West Country-set Mindful Murders series, which features a “classic chalk-and- cheese” crime-fighting duo: vegetarian, medi- tating cop Vince Caine and DI Shanti Joyce, seconded to the West Country from London. Bird is the joint pseudonym of children’s author/ illustrator Laurence Arnholt and novelist Paddy Magrane. Green called the series “quirky, original and enormous fun”. The first in the series, A Boy Named Art (slated


for May 2019), sees Caine and Joyce at a Somerset gallery, where the body of a celebrated perfor- mance artist is found in a formaldehyde-filled tank. Bird said the series grew out of “years of meditation, vegetarian Cornish pasties and living amid the wild beaut of the West Country.” MMA also announced that the film adapta- tion of Melanie Golding’s Little Darlings will go into development in July, aſter the firm’s film, TV and digital co-ordinator Hayley Steed finalised a deal with production company Free Range Films, recent adaptor of “My Cousin Rachel”.


Monk’s death meditation to Bluebird


Bluebird publisher Carole Tonkinson has acquired a “timely, personal account” of a near-death experience by Tibetan monk Mingyur Rinpoche at auction. Tonkinson bought UK and Commonwealth rights to Wandering: A Journey Through Life and Death from agent Emma Sweeney. Rinpoche, described as a “rising star within his generation of Tibetan


masters”, aims to show “how we can transform our dread of dying into joyful living” with the book. His previous title, The Joy of Living, was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 20 languages. Wandering will be co-authored by Helen Tworkov, who is the founder of Tricyle: The Buddhist Review, the most popular Buddhist magazine in the world. Tonkinson said: “Mingyur Rinpoche is one of the leading spiritual lights of our time and I can think of no more informed and eloquent guide to help us navigate our attitudes towards death.”


Robinson to reprise Gilead set in fourth title


Virago chair Lennie Goodings has bought the as-yet-untitled fourth novel in Marilynne Rob- inson’s Gilead series, revisiting the characters of her celebrated set comprising: Gilead, which won the Pulitzer; Home, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction; and Lila, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. Virago bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Claire Roberts on behalf of Ellen Levine at Trident Media and will publish in 2020.


Robinson 11th April 2018


Trapeze triumphs in winning Wood biography


Trapeze has won a nine-way auction for Victoria Wood: The Authorised Biography by jour- nalist and author Jasper Rees. Trapeze publisher Anna Valen- tine bought UK and Common- wealth rights from James Gill at United Agents. Written with “the exclusive authority and full co-operation of Victoria Wood’s estate, and her family”, the book will be published in Octo- ber 2020 as a hardback, e-book and audiobook.


ALLi: Blockchain the missing link


The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is exhibiting at LBF for the first time and has launched a white paper which claims that the development of blockchain technology could revolutionise the book industry. Blockchain technology enables a piece of digital prop- ert to be transferred from user to user securely, with its contents unable to be modified. In the financial world, it was used to develop cryptocurrency Bitcoin. ALLi’s study shows blockchain could create “a new ecosys- tem which places authors at the head of the payment chain” through direct tracking of intel- lectual propert and monetary rights, leading to “true inde- pendence” for self-published writers. It would enable them to supply digital products direct to readers, and could bring an end to them “relying on a single outlet”, said ALLi director Orna Ross above, who claimed the move offers creatives “control over their work, their rights, and how they get paid”.


Gogglebox June to pen late Leon’s life for Blink


June Bernicoff, star of Chan- nel 4’s reality TV show “Goggle- box”, is writing a celebration of her late husband Leon’s life for Blink Publishing after editorial director Kelly Ellis bought world rights from Harriet Manby at Studio Lambert. Former teacher Leon, who was known for his sharp wit, died in December, aged 83, after a short illness. Bernicoff said: “Leon often said he’d like to write our story. So now I can do it for him.”


Scot Stewart signs up with Sweet Cherry


Sweet Cherry Publishing has pre-empted a new YA series from Scottish author Gill Stew- art. World rights to four books were signed by managing editor Cecilia Bennett through Kate Nash at the Kate Nash Liter- ary Agency. The first title in the deal, Lily’s Just Fine, will be published in 2019. With femi- nist undertones, the “light- hearted summer read which tackles serious issues” tells the story of an unlikely romance.


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