Latest acquisitions: Children’s and YA

See what Australian publishers have been signing recently in children’s and YA.

Picture books: First Nations storytelling, a sausage dog, cooking and phonics 

University of Western Australia Publishing (UWA Publishing) has acquired world rights to Stories About Fire, Wind, the Moon and Other Dreamings – Warinypa wariny Mangunyjaja muwarr wirlarrapa wangalpa wika by Solomon Cocky, edited by Barbara Hale and Inge Kral. Publisher Kate Pickard said, ‘The stories were originally created and published by Solomon Cocky in the 1970s to 1990s through his work with the Literature Production Centre based at the Strelley School in the Pilbara. Barbara Hale and Inge Kral have collected and translated the works from Nyangumarta into English. The work of translation has revealed how fragile this Indigenous Australian language is and how important it is to keep language alive.’ UWA Publishing plans to release Stories About Fire, Wind, the Moon and Other Dreamings – Warinypa wariny Mangunyjaja muwarr wirlarrapa wangalpa wika on 1 November.

Fremantle Press has acquired world rights to Ningaloo: Australia’s Wild Wonder by Tim Winton, with illustrations by Cindy Lane, in a deal brokered by Jenny Darling of Jenny Darling & Associates. Ningaloo: Australia’s Wild Wonder is an illustrated hardback picture book focused on Western Australia’s Ningaloo region, with watercolour images. Fremantle Press CEO Alex Allan, who commissioned the title, described it as ‘a nonfiction children’s book celebrating the beauty, diversity and interconnectedness of the area’s ecosystem, and all that dwell within it’. Winton said, ‘Ningaloo has been a big part of my life. I’ve spent over 30 years learning about this remarkable and unrepeatable place, and I’m so pleased to be able to share it in this way with young people all over the world.’ Ningaloo is scheduled for publication in October. (more…)

Originally published by Books and Publishing (Read More)