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HarperCollinsCanada is thrilled to announce that the upcoming buzzy fantasy novel Dawn of the Firebird penned by Canadian author, Sarah Mughal Rana, has been optioned by Jabal Entertainment and VR Chili Production for a prequel television series. Currently in development, the series is set to be filmed in 2026.

On the adaptation news, Sarah Mughal Rana commented, “I am delighted to collaborate with a team that understands the heart and grit of Dawn of the Firebird. Amid the court intrigue, alliances, and the fight for the throne, is a story of finding and holding onto love in all of its forms, while resisting darkness. This prequel delves into the early lives of the book’s main cast, which is such a treat! It’s great to be working with a team that is committed to faithfully adapt this world on-screen.”

For fans of The Poppy Wars, She Who Became the Sun, and The Will of the Many, Dawn of the Firebird (on-sale Dec 2^nd, 2025) is a breathtaking fantasy novel about the daughter of an overthrown emperor, Khamilla Zahr-zad, whose life has been built on a foundation of violent and vengeance training to maintain her father’s throne. When her clansmen are assassinated, Khamilla joins the enemy’s army school full of jinn, magic, and martial arts, as she risks it all to topple her adversaries, but the more she excels, the more she is faced with history that contradicts her father’s teachings. With a war brewing among the kingdoms and a new twisted magic overtaking the land, Khamilla is torn between two impossible choices: vengeance or salvation.

Mughal Rana is represented by Paige Terlip at the Andrea Brown Agency who repped the film and TV rights on her behalf, alongside Matt Saver, her entertainment attorney. Dawn of the Firebird will be published by Bloomsbury in the UK on December 4th, and Hanover Square Press in the US on December 2nd.

To request an advance copy of Dawn of the Firebird or an interview with Sarah Mughal Rana, please contact Lauren.Ridgewell@harpercollins.com

Author Bio

SARAH MUGHAL RANA is a Muslim author and student who completed her bachelor’s with honours at the University of Toronto and is now at Oxford University, studying at the intersection of economics and policy. She is a BookTok personality and the co-host of the On The Write Track podcast, where she enjoys spilling tea with her favourite authors about the book world. Her debut YA novel, Hope Ablaze, was published in February 2024. Outside of school, she falls down history rabbit holes and trains in traditional martial arts.

The Knowing, a deeply personal look at Canada’s Indian Residential School system by award-winning author Tanya Talaga, will be published August 27 by HarperCollinsCanada

 The companion documentary series will make its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12

 The full four-part series THE KNOWING, expanding Talaga’s story, will premiere September 25 on CBC and CBC Gem  

 Talaga will tour this fall to more than 20 cities across Canada to share her story

 

August 14, 2024—Makwa Creative, HarperCollinsCanada and CBC bring Tanya Talaga’s deeply personal and piercing story, THE KNOWING, to audiences everywhere this fall.

Journalist, filmmaker, and award-winning Anishinaabe author, Tanya Talaga, is on a quest to find the truth of what happened to the women in her maternal family, revealing a story intertwined with Canada’s Indian Residential School system. Through her own unique lens, Talaga’s multi-platform narrative unfolds the impact of centuries-long oppression that continues to reverberate in Indigenous communities today.

What began with her mother’s appeal for Talaga to use her investigative reporting skills to find out what happened to her great-grandmother, grew into a book that uniquely unravels Canadian history. The discovery of rare visual archives and personal stories of Survivors she meets, help drive the narrative and events surrounding the historic Papal apology in Rome and in Canada.

“While researching and writing The Knowing, the book, I realized we needed to visually document the rapid events unfolding around us – from my mother’s maternal family’s story to the first anniversary of the finding of Le Estcwicwéy̓, the missing, two years ago in Kamloops B.C.,” said Talaga. “Makwa Creative, my production company, jumped on the chance, grabbing cameras and running to document this epic story.”

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Knowing is the unfolding of Canadian history unlike anything we have ever read before. Award-winning and bestselling Anishinaabe author Tanya Talaga retells the history of this country as only she can—through an Indigenous lens, beginning with the life of her great-great grandmother Annie Carpenter and her family as they experienced decades of government- and Church-sanctioned enfranchisement and genocide. For generations, Indigenous People have known that their family members disappeared, many of them after being sent to residential schools, “Indian hospitals” and asylums through a coordinated system designed to destroy who the First Nations, Métis and Inuit people are. This is one of Canada’s greatest open secrets, an unhealed wound that until recently lay hidden by shame and abandonment.

The Knowing will be published by HarperCollinsCanada, available wherever books are sold on August 27th.

 

ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY

THE KNOWING is a four-part narrative docuseries that follows journalist Tanya Talaga and her family’s eight-decade long search for family matriarch Annie Carpenter, revealing a story deeply intertwined with Canada’s residential school system. Using sweeping imagery of the land, blended with rare archival footage, Ininiw poetic narration and deeply personal conversations with Survivors, knowledge holders and newly found family, Talaga takes us on an emotional journey of both familial reclamation and an exploration of Canada’s true history.

THE KNOWING will premiere on CBC and CBC Gem at 8 pm (8:30 NT) on September 25. Adapted from Talaga’s book of the same name, the documentary series is produced by Makwa Creative, in association with CBC. Directed by Tanya Talaga and Courtney Montour, the executive producers are Tanya Talaga and Stuart Coxe. The supervising producer is Geoff Siskind and the co-producer is Jordan Huffman. For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager, Entertainment, Factual, & Sports; Jennifer Dettman is Executive Director, Unscripted Content; Sandra Kleinfeld is Senior Director, Documentary; and Nic Meloney is Executive in Charge of Production, CBC Docs.

A Cree-language version of the documentary series, narrated by James Bay Cree Community members, will be available later in CBC’s 2024-2025 broadcast season.

 

TANYA TALAGA is of Anishinaabe and Polish descent and was born and raised in Toronto. She is a member of Fort William First Nation. Her mother was raised on the traditional territory of Fort William First Nation and Treaty 9.

She is the acclaimed author of the national bestseller Seven Fallen Feathers, which won the RBC Taylor Prize, the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and the First Nation Communities Read: Young Adult/Adult Award. The book was also CBC’s Nonfiction Book of the Year and a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book. Talaga was the 2017–2018 Atkinson Fellow in Public Policy and the 2018 CBC Massey Lecturer. She is also the author of the national bestseller, All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward.

Talaga is the President and CEO of Makwa Creative, a production company focused on Indigenous storytelling. She is the Director and Executive Producer of Mashkawi-Manidoo Bimaadiziwin Spirit to Soar, a documentary in both English and Anishinabemowin-language versions, available on CBC Gem, and Executive Producer for Auntie Up! a podcast series from Makwa Creative.

For more than twenty years she was a journalist at The Toronto Star and is now a regular columnist at The Globe and Mail.

 

EVENTS

Tanya Talaga will be traveling across the country this fall, visiting over 20 cities for THE KNOWING. To see if she will be visiting a community near you, please visit https://www.harpercollins.ca/the-knowing/ for all event details.

 

CONTACTS

For more information about the book or to request an interview or review copy, please contact:

Lauren Morocco, HarperCollins Canada
Lauren.Morocco@harpercollins.com

For more information about the documentary series or to request a screening copy, please contact:

Tanya Koivusalo, CBC PR
tanya.koivusalo@cbc.ca

*Images from the book and documentary are available here.

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About Makwa Creative

Makwa Creative is a fully Indigenous-owned production company.

We focus on sharing Indigenous stories from a creative perspective, and to support Indigenous creators to reach a wider audience in TV, documentaries, podcasts, and digital media.

We direct and produce film and TV series which respect the powerful truths and knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples from Canada.

Makwa means bear in Ojibwe with many stories about its roles and contributions on Turtle Island. Makwa Creative was started to give voice and stage to Indigenous creators sharing about the resilience of Indigenous peoples.

About CBC/Radio-Canada

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi and Tagalog, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.

HARPERCOLLINS CANADA THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE FALL PUBLICATION OF IGNITE: UNLOCK THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL WITHIN BY SIX-TIME OLYMPIC MEDALLIST ANDRE DE GRASSE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Toronto; April 5, 2023)

HarperCollinsCanada is excited to announce the world-rights, all-languages acquisition of Ignite: Unlock the Hidden Potential Within by six-time Olympic medallist Andre De Grasse. Set for publication October 17, 2023, Ignite will light a fire for readers, providing insights and inspiration from an Olympic and World Champion that they can apply to their everyday lives.

De Grasse said of the upcoming publication, “This book is a collection of the lessons I’ve learned about achieving success and finding happiness on the way to becoming an Olympic champion. I’m excited to share these insights from the highs and lows of my journey toward being the best I can be, both on and off the track. I hope they will provide inspiration for people as they pursue their own goals in life.”

In 2016, De Grasse became the first Canadian to capture medals in all three sprint events during a single Olympics. Five years later, at the Tokyo Games, he did it again, winning three more Olympic medals, including gold in the 200m. In the process, he became the most decorated male summer Olympian in Canadian history. His magnetic personality has won over millions of people around the world.

Ignite shares previously untold stories and practical advice from De Grasse’s improbable journey to becoming an Olympic champion. His tales from the track and beyond will help people unlock their own hidden potential and stare down life’s challenges, as De Grasse has demonstrated what it takes to perform at one’s best under enormous pressure and to continually push the limit of what seems possible. Whether readers are looking for guidance in the workplace, at home, or in pursuit of their dreams, this is a book that will resonate with everyone.

Editor in chief Jennifer Lambert said of the book, “Andre De Grasse is a Canadian icon. His personal story is fascinating, as are the lessons he shares with readers, which will fuel success in their own lives. HarperCollins is thrilled to be publishing Ignite in October.”

The deal was negotiated by literary agent Rick Broadhead, at Rick Broadhead & Associates Inc., in partnership with Brian Levine, President of Envision Sports & Entertainment.

To request an advance copy or an interview with Andre De Grasse, please contact Cindy.Ma@harpercollins.com   

 

AUTHOR BIO

Born in Scarborough and raised in Markham, Ontario, ANDRE DE GRASSE is a six-time Olympic and five-time World Championship sprint medallist. A proud father, popular brand ambassador, and children’s author, he is also the founder of the Andre De Grasse Family Foundation, which is committed to inspiring and empowering youth through access to sports, education, and healthcare.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Toronto; January 16, 2023)

HarperCollinsCanada is excited to share a cover reveal for the forthcoming publication of Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada, a collection of essays about the contemporary Indigenous experience in Canada by award-winning author and advocate Michelle Good. Publishing May 30, 2023, Truth Telling is a bold and provocative examination of Indigenous issues from resistance and reconciliation to the resurgence and reclamation of Indigenous power. With authority, intelligence, and insight, Good delves into how colonialism underpins social institutions in Canada, exposing the human cost and how it prevents meaningful and substantive reconciliation.

The cover for Truth Telling features a powerful original illustration by Ojibwe artist Jim Oskineegish. Oskineegish is a registered member of the Eabametoong First Nation which is located in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Oskineegish paints in the Shamanistic Woodland Style using bold lines and bright colours. He loves to paint legends and stories of his people and hopes that his art can bridge a universal understanding of love, faith, and unity.

Good’s previous novel, the national bestseller Five Little Indians, was the winner of the HarperCollinsPublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction, the Amazon First Novel Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize; it was also longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a finalist for the Writer’s Trust Award. Five Little Indians was the winner of CBC’s Canada Reads 2022 and the Toronto Star’s bestselling Canadian fiction title in 2022. HarperCollinsCanada’s executive editor Janice Zawerbny, who edited Five Little Indians, says, “In Truth Telling, Michelle applies her intelligence and insight to a variety of important historical and contemporary Indigenous issues. This book is a natural extension of Five Little Indians and the discussions it raised about the Indigenous experience in Canada. From racism, broken treaties, and cultural pillaging to the value of Indigenous lives and the importance of Indigenous literature, Truth Telling is essential reading.”

Truth Telling’s impactful, timely essays cement Good as not only an important storyteller and literary talent but also a mediagenic expert and go-to authority on matters of Indigenous justice and reconciliation with her ability to inspire, educate, and connect with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. As Good explains, “Watching Five Little Indians reach the hands, hearts, and minds of hundreds of thousands of Canadians, it was clear to me that there is a sudden willingness to engage in critical conversations about the truth of Canadian history as experienced by Indigenous people. These essays are an invitation, not a declaration. An invitation to non-Indigenous Canadians to reconsider what they think they know about Indigenous Peoples, to critically consider the historical myths they’ve been spoon-fed in the quest for colonial domination and to inspire in them a quest for truth and a demand for justice.”

MICHELLE GOOD is a writer of Cree ancestry and a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. After three decades of working with Indigenous communities and organizations, she obtained her law degree. She earned her MFA in creative writing at UBC while still practising law. Her novel, Five Little Indians, was nominated for the Writers’ Trust Award for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize. It received the HarperCollins/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction, the Amazon First Novel Award, the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Five Little Indians was also chosen for Canada Reads 2022. Michelle Good’s poems, short stories and essays have been published in magazines and anthologies across Canada.

To request an interview with Michelle Good or an advance reading copy of Truth Telling for potential coverage, please contact:

Cindy Ma, Senior Publicist cindy.ma@harpercollins.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Toronto; October 25, 2022)

HarperCollinsCanada announced today that it will publish THE FUTURE by bestselling author Naomi Alderman. The acclaimed author of The Power, Alderman’s writing has been praised as “our era’s Handmaid’s Tale” by the Washington Post. The book topped Barack Obama’s list of his favorite books of 2017, was recommended by Bill Gates, and was awarded the Baileys’ Women’s Prize for Fiction. Amazon will be launching the TV adaptation of the novel in 2023, starring Toni Collette.

A compulsive technological thriller, THE FUTURE is a tour de force of intelligence and storytelling, marrying white-knuckle narrative propulsion with an intellectually dazzling critique of the world we have made, in which a few billionaires profit on the lives of many and lead us willingly to our doom.

Jennifer Lambert, Editor-in-Chief at HarperCollinsCanada, acquired Canadian, first serial, and audio rights from Simon Lipskar at Writers House on behalf of Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates in the UK. The book is scheduled for publication in fall 2023. Additionally, rights were sold in the US to Simon & Schuster and in the UK to 4^th Estate.

Of the acquisition, Jennifer Lambert says, “With THE FUTURE, Naomi Alderman has redefined fearless, page-turning fiction. This novel is a thriller, a warning shot, and a deeply layered examination of how we are stumbling forward, eyes open yet willfully blind to consequences.  It is a dream to publish an author as accomplished as Naomi, and we are thrilled to have her join HarperCollinsCanada as a cornerstone of the fiction program going forward.”

Naomi explains, “THE FUTURE is a novel which has almost been dictated to me by the roiling urgency of the world today—the opportunity and the despair, the great hopes and the terrible fears. I’ve always believed that the novel can ‘bring the news’. So that’s what I’m hoping to do: to sketch a way forward from where we are now. With explosions. And drone swarms. And a love story.”

Naomi Alderman is most recently the bestselling author of The Power, which was won the Bailey’s Womens Prize for Fiction, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, NPR, and more. Alderman is also the author of The Liars’ Gospel and Disobedience, which won the Orange Prize for New Writers. She is the cocreator and lead writer of the bestselling smartphone audio adventure app Zombies, Run!.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Toronto, October 27, 2022)

HarperCollins Canada is thrilled to have acquired on exclusive submission World, all language rights to a new comedic, cozy mystery series by the award-winning, bestselling author duo of Will Ferguson and Ian Ferguson.

The first novel, titled I Only Read Murder, will launch the series in June 2023. It introduces Miranda Abbott, a former TV star who feels compelled to revisit the detective skills of her character Pastor Fran when a murder occurs on-stage during a small-town theatre performance. The second Miranda Abbott novel, Mystery in the Title, will follow in early 2024.

Jennifer Lambert, HarperCollins Canada Editor-in-Chief, acquired the books, stating, “I was immediately taken by this light-hearted, funny and infinitely clever series by such renowned writers and humorists as Will and Ian Ferguson. I Only Read Murder has just the right touch of a send up of actors past their prime and small-town theatre, while also incorporating the twisty whodunnit clues and humour of favourite TV shows Shakespeare & Hathaway and Only Murders in the Building with a dash of Moira Rose from Schitt’s Creek.”

Ian and Will Ferguson say, “We’re incredibly pleased to be launching the Miranda Abbott series with HarperCollins. They’ve been great. They understand the humour and the affectionate homage behind these novels. In many ways, this series is a love letter to the shows we grew up with, from Magnum P.I. to Murder, She Wrote. We’ve been having a lot of fun writing these, and we’re sure readers will have a lot of fun reading them.”

The book deal was arranged by the authors.

Will Ferguson is an award-winning travel writer, popular historian and novelist. His novels include his debut HappinessTM, sold in 23 languages, and 419, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His most recent novel, The Finder, won the 2021 Arthur Ellis Award for Crime Fiction. Ferguson has won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour three times and has been nominated for both the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. He is the author with Ian Ferguson of the bestseller How to Be a Canadian. He lives in Calgary, AB.

Ian Ferguson won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for Village of the Small Houses and is the co-author, with his brother Will Ferguson, of How to Be a Canadian, which was shortlisted for the Leacock Medal and which won the CBA Libris Award for non-fiction. He is a contributor to the Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour and has been published in the Globe and Mail, National Post, Reader’s Digest, Maclean’s and EnRoute, among other publications. For the past ten years, he has worked as a writer and creative director in the film and television industry. He was actively involved in theater and live comedy and is the founder of the long-running Sin City variety show, a comedic free-for-all in the vaudeville tradition. He lives in Victoria, BC.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Toronto; October 6, 2022)

HarperCollinsPublishersLtd, the UBC School of Creative Writing, and CookeMcDermid Literary Management are thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2022 HarperCollinsPublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction is Tammy Armstrong for her adult novel Ursula.

The winning author, chosen by CookeMcDermid and the editorial team of HarperCollinsCanada, gains representation by CookeMcDermid and a standard contract to publish from HarperCollins, with a negotiated advance. HarperCollinsCanada has secured World Rights to Ursula and will publish in Spring 2024. The prize contributes to the publishing landscape significantly with past winners such as Ellen Keith’s #1 bestselling The Dutch Wife, which was an international bestseller with rights sold in six countries, and Michelle Good, author of the iconic Five Little Indians, who went on to win the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, CBC Canada Reads, the KOBO Emerging Writer Prize, and has sold close to 200,000 copies in Canada alone.

Ursula is an historical novel set in a New Brunswick logging camp in the 1920s. Ursula is a young girl growing up in the camp with her family and her “brother” Bruno, a bear who has been raised by her family and is accepted in the close-knit community of lumberjacks. When their malicious camp supervisor is found dead in a ditch, Bruno is blamed and then kidnapped and sold to an animal trader, leaving Ursula no choice but to embark on a hazardous solo journey through the forest to rescue him.

Armstrong said of the win, “It is an honour to receive the HarperCollins/UBC Fiction Prize. I started writing Ursula in 2015, never imagining where my book might go. I am so very grateful to the jury for enjoying it and HarperCollins for giving it a home.”

Tammy Armstrong is a former Fulbright scholar and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and a Ph.D. in Literature and Critical Animal Studies from the University of New Brunswick. Armstrong’s writing has appeared in literary journals in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She has published two novels: Pye-Dogs and Translations: Aistreann, which won the David Adams Richards Prize, was longlisted for the Chapters/Robertson Davies Prize, and was included as one of the best adult books for teenage readers by the libraries at the University of Alberta and the University of Wisconsin. She has also written five books of poetry, including Bogman’s Music which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. She lives in southern Nova Scotia.

 

Quotes

“The jury was enthralled by Tammy Armstrong’s winning novel. The narrative is sown with rural New Brunswick folklore and superstition, and there is a whimsical rendering of the remote setting that creates a magical atmosphere to this enchanted adventure story. A wholly unique and heartwarming novel by a talented writer.”
—Janice Zawerbny, Executive Editor at HarperCollinsCanada 

“All of us at the UBC School of Creative Writing are so proud of Tammy’s success, and can’t wait to hold the published book in our hands.”
—Annabel Lyon, Director of the UBC School of Creative Writing

“Everyone at our agency loves Ursula—the novel and the character—and we are head-over-heels in love with her ‘brother’ bear, Bruno. We are excited to see the great things that will come from Tammy and her team at HarperCollins, CookeMcDermid, and UBC.”
—Rachel Letofsky, Literary Agent for CookeMcDermid Literary Agency

 

About the Prize

Now in its tenth year, the Prize for Best New Fiction is awarded bi-annually. The next opportunity will be in 2024 and is open to currently enrolled students and previous graduates of the UBC School of Creative Writing. Past winners include:

• The Island of Forgetting by Jasmine Sealy
• Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
• The Dutch Wife by Ellen Keith
• The Ghost Keeper by Natalie Morrill
• The Good Sister by Chelsea Bolan
• Book of Sands by Karim Alrawi

For more information on the prize, visit https://creativewriting.ubc.ca/about/prize-for-best-new-fiction/.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Toronto, September 22, 2022)

HarperCollins Canada is thrilled to have acquired Canadian English-language rights to two new works of adult fiction by the award-winning, bestselling author David A. Robertson.

The first novel, tentatively titled Hunter, follows a young Cree man caught between the physical and spiritual worlds. Before he can journey into the afterlife, he has four days to make amends to those he has wronged. The second novel is untitled. Publication is scheduled for 2025 and 2027, respectively.

Jennifer Lambert, HarperCollins Canada Editor-in-Chief, acquired the books, stating, “HarperCollins is very proud to be the home of David A. Robertson’s adult fiction and non-fiction. Through his storytelling for all ages, David connects with readers, illuminating the Indigenous experience, the connection to the land, and the intimate relationships between family members. David’s previous books with HarperCollins, Black Water and The Theory of Crows, are deeply moving, impactful works for adult readers, and we have every expectation that Hunter and David’s future novels and non-fiction will captivate his ever-growing audience.”

After signing the deal, Robertson stated, “It has been an incredible experience working with people who’ve given such attention and care to my words. Since I was eight, my life has been about stories that entertain, connect, and create change. I have more stories to tell, and I’m thrilled to continue my relationship with HarperCollins.”

The year 2022 has been eventful for Robertson. On September 13 he released The Theory of Crows, his first novel for adults, to great acclaim. Early August saw the publication of the third installment of the Misewa Saga, his award-winning middle-grade series. Robertson will be travelling across Canada promoting both projects. You can see his fall schedule at HarperPresents.

The book deal was arranged by Jackie Kaiser, President and COO, Westwood Creative Artists.

DAVID A. ROBERTSON (he, him, his) was the 2021 recipient of the Writers’ Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award. He is the author of recently published novel The Theory of Crows and the memoir Black Water: Family, Legacy, and Blood Memory (2020), which was a Globe and Mail and Quill & Quire book of the year, and won the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction as well as the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. He is also the author of numerous books for young readers, including When We Were Alone (illustrated by Julie Flett), which won both the 2017 Governor General’s Literary Award and the McNally Robinson Best Book for Young People Award. On the Trapline, also illustrated by Julie Flett, won Robertson a second Governor General’s Literary Award and was named one of the best picture books of 2021 by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, New York Public Library, The Horn Book, Quill & Quire, and American Indians in Children’s Literature. The Barren Grounds, the first book in Robertson’s middle-grade Misewa Saga series, was shortlisted for the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award, the TD Award for Children’s Literature, and the Ontario Library Association’s Silver Birch Award. Robertson is the writer and host of the podcast Kīwēw, winner of the 2021 RTDNA Prairie Region Award for Best Podcast. He is a member of Norway House Cree Nation and currently lives in Winnipeg.

HARPERCOLLINS CANADA ACQUIRES EMMA DONOGHUE’S NEW NOVEL LEARNED BY HEART

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Toronto, August 30, 2022)

HarperCollins Canada is thrilled to have acquired Canada English rights to award-winning, bestselling author Emma Donoghue’s next historical fiction novel, Learned by Heart, set to hit shelves August 2023. The upcoming novel showcases the real-life love story of historical figures Eliza Raine and Anne Lister—Lister’s diaries were the inspiration for the HBO series Gentleman Jack. Senior Vice President and Executive Publisher Iris Tupholme acquired the novel stating, “A new novel from the brilliant Emma Donoghue is always cause for celebration and Learned by Heart is a story readers will love. Emotionally intense, psychologically compelling, and deeply researched, Learned by Heart is an extraordinary work of fiction by one of the world’s greatest storytellers. Full of secret passion, great love, and heartbreak, the tangled lives of Anne Lister and Eliza Raine form a love story for the ages.”

Drawing on Donoghue’s years of investigation and Anne Lister’s five-million-word secret journal, Learned by Heart is the long-buried love story of Eliza Raine, an orphan heiress banished from India to England at age six, and Anne Lister, a brilliant, troublesome tomboy, who meet at the Manor School for young ladies in York in 1805. Emma Donoghue said of the new novel, “I’ve been obsessed with Anne Lister and Eliza Raine for the past three decades, so to be bringing their story to a worldwide audience with my dream team of HarperCollins Canada, Picador, and Little Brown is just fantastic.”

This new novel comes on the heels of a very busy year for Donoghue. Her stage version of Room had its North American premiere in London and Toronto, and the film adaptation of her 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize-shortlisted novel The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh and co-written by Donoghue herself, will screen at TIFF this September, with a release slated later this fall on Netflix. Donoghue’s newest historical novel, Haven, a pressure-cooker survival novel following three monks in 600 AD, went on-sale August 23, 2022, debuting as an instant Canadian bestseller.
Emma Donoghue is represented by Caroline Davidson at CDLA London. The book deal was brokered by Caroline Davidson. Learned by Heart will be co-published by Judith Clain at Little, Brown and Company in the United States, and by Ravi Mirchandani at Picador, UK.

Born in Ireland, national bestselling author EMMA DONOGHUE spent many years in England and now lives in Canada. Her books include Room (basis for the Oscar-nominated film), Slammerkin, and The Pull of the Stars. Her novels have been translated into forty-two languages.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Toronto, February 24, 2022) HarperCollins Canada is thrilled to have acquired Canada English rights to actor, producer, and director Elliot Page’s forthcoming memoir, Pageboy set to hit shelves in 2023. Senior VP and Executive Publisher Iris Tupholme acquired the book with Senior Editorial Director Jennifer Lambert editing.

Pageboy will give readers a look into Elliot Page’s journey from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Hollywood. The memoir will delve into Page’s relationship with his body, his experiences as one of the most famous trans people in the world, and will cover mental health, assault, relationships, sex, and the cesspool that Hollywood can be. Full of warmth, honesty, and wit, Pageboy will be a must-read for Canadians, both for established fans of Page’s and new fans alike.

Jennifer Lambert said of the acquisition, “Elliot’s personal and professional story has been one I’ve admired greatly. I have been reminded again and again of the dichotomy between the public and private self and how each of us has the right to live authentically on our own terms. Too often, as Elliot’s experiences have revealed, humanity is denied, judgment is cast, fear translates into hate. In Pageboy, Elliot bravely confronts and exposes these moments but also reveals the journey and the beautiful private joy of coming into a life fully realized at last.  It is deeply moving, raw and fierce, a coming-of-age story that will take its place among the highest achieving literary memoirs. And by giving voice to the trans experience so fearlessly, it will serve as both recognition and inspiration to so many. Elliot’s book will resonate across Canada and around the world, and Executive Publisher Iris Tupholme and I and the whole team at HarperCollins Canada could not be more proud to be joining Elliot on this journey.”

Elliot Page is represented by United Talent Agency, VIE Entertainment, and ID Public Relations The book deal was brokered by Meredith Miller at UTA, on behalf of Pilar Queen and Albert Lee.