Category: Latest Deals

Rights to Melissa Butcher’s first trade book have gone to Manchester University Press.

Designed as a cultural map of contemporary America, The Trouble With Freedom will enable readers to navigate through this morass of vitriol, conspiracy theory and argument, understanding how, why and in what direction America is changing.

In conversation with Americans across the country, from all walks of life, the book is extremely timely, produced in the midst of a raging culture war and the run up to the 2024 Presidential election. However, the issues are timeless and relevant not only to the USA but other countries like the UK, subject to similar processes of change and where comparable social divisions are evident. Written as narrative non-fiction with an ‘outsider’s eye’, in the style of ‘Alexis de Tocqueville in the 21st Century’, the book will appeal to audiences with an interest in social and current affairs, using a blend of original research, reporting and personal narrative.

Professor Melissa Butcher is a social and cultural geographer at Cumberland Lodge and Royal Holloway, University of London. She has produced to date two monographs (2003, 2011), five edited collections, over 30 academic journal articles, as well as numerous pieces of journalism. She has had regular invitations to present her work at public events including in the past the Bloomsbury Festival and the Dublin Science Museum.

Icon Books have snapped up travel writer Daniel Stables’ first full length book.

Fiesta is a journey through human festivity, told through colourful travel narratives set at some of the world’s most eye-catching festivals and interweaved with insights from the fields of anthropology, history, psychology, and folklore, examining why we celebrate festivals in the ways we do.

The work will examine human culture and the natural world through rich, first-person travel narratives, infused with humour and embroidered with background and detail from the worlds of history, psychology, anthropology, and more.

Connor Stait, editor at Icon Books commented, ‘‘Daniel Stables is a terrific writer and the perfect guide for readers looking to learn more about festivals around the world. I’m excited to be publishing his debut book.’

Daniel Stables has been working as a travel writer for the last decade, first writing guidebooks for Rough Guides, and later writing articles for National Geographic, the BBC, and national newspapers. He has won acclaim and recognition for his work, having been shortlisted for Travel Writer of the Year at the Freelance Writing Awards in 2021, and for Travel Feature of the Year at 2023’s British Guild of Travel Writers awards.

“Daniel has the rare ability to seamlessly take fascinating anthropological and psychological perspectives and weave them into exciting travel narratives. A unique insight into the human condition through the lens of gatherings of all description – thought-provoking and inspiring.” Levison Wood

Rights to Shafik Meghji’s new book has gone to Hurst Publishers.

A captivating blend of travel writing, history and reportage, Small Earthquakes: Exploring Britain’s Lost History in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay journeys from the Atacama Desert to Tierra del Fuego, Easter Island to South Georgia, exploring Britain’s forgotten connections with this part of South America.

Drawing on 15 years of experience of living, working and travelling across South America for DK Eyewitness, Lonely Planet, the BBC and Rough Guides, award-winning journalist, travel writer and author Shafik unearths a shared history featuring nitrate kings and tech utopians, footballers and pirates, polar explorers and freedom fighters, cowboys and missionaries.

Small Earthquakes will reveal how these three countries have shaped Britain in profound and unexpected ways, including a meatpacking plant in Fray Bentos that changed the way the world eats and a Buenos Aires waterworks that triggered a London banking crisis. And it explores how they provided an escape for everyone from Welsh nonconformists dreaming of a new life in Patagonia to gold miners seeking their fortunes in
some of the harshest conditions imaginable.

Meghji’s first book, Crossed Off the Map: Travels in Bolivia (Latin America Bureau, 2022), was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year and named one of the travel books of 2022 by the Washington Post, National Geographic Traveller and Wanderlust.

He has co-authored over 45 guidebooks for respected publishers like Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, and DK Eyewitness and his writing has been featured in prominent publications including BBC Travel, National Geographic Traveller, and The Guardian. His work has been recognised with numerous awards, including accolades from the Travel Media Awards, British Guild of Travel Writers Awards, and Freelance Writing Awards. He was shortlisted for Travel Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards in 2022 and 2023.

Rights to the memoirs of Rikki Stein have gone to Wordville Press.

Renowned music manager Rikki Stein has spent nearly six decades moving musicians around the world, and this book recounts a lifetime of adventure on the road. Always in the right place at the right time, Rikki was part of the great countercultural moments of the last century, from Woodstock and the Vietnam War Moratorium March to the launch of the Glastonbury Festival.

Rikki has toured some of the world’s most iconic musicians and groups, from The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Kinks, The Animals, The Yardbirds, The Moody Blues and the Grateful Dead to managing the Nigerian superstar, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Rikki’s journey is also a spiritual one, forged by his experience of living among the community of the Musicians of Joujouka, Morocco, who remain a key connection in his life to this day.

Full of extraordinary, sometimes hilarious, stories of life on the road, this book recounts the joys, frustrations and surprises of juggling logistics, local politics and the whims of his creative clients to deliver true moments of moving music.

‘Rikki took on a huge job to help me when things were really tough. Having discharged what he saw as his duty, he left me in a much better place so that he could continue with his very successful promotion of wonderful African music.’ – Michael Eavis, Founder, Glastonbury Festival.

‘Rikki has been passionate about ensuring Fela’s legacy has been given its rightful place in the music industry. His dedication to Fela’s legacy is proof of his love for Fela and his family.’ – Femi Anikulapo Kuti.

Publication date June 4. Pre-order now.

UK & Commonwealth rights have been acquired by Flint Books.

Crypto Confidential: An Insider’s Account from the Frontlines of Fraud presents an uncompromising account of the exorbitant greed and systemic corruption which characterises the cultish world of cryptocurrency. Written by a prominent, well-connected and well-informed insider, the book tells the salacious story of the industry everyone is talking about right now. In doing so, it sheds light on some of the most scandalous financial crimes of the 21st Century.

The book will shed light on many of these crimes and corruptions, revealing how they’re orchestrated, and giving an insider’s account of how they unfold on a daily basis within the industry. With easily digestible explanations of technical concepts, this opens the book up to a mass market readership, without compromising on the appeal to those already literate and active in the crypto and finance sectors.

A full and frank depiction of how the crypto industry really works, and how those in charge orchestrate, coordinate, and ultimately pull off some of the most audacious crimes in the history of finance.

In past lives, Jake Donoghue held numerous positions within finance, politics and PR. He went on to co-found the UK’s foremost crypto marketing agency, working with the biggest names in the business. A frequent key-note speaker on the conference circuit, he has also written extensively for publications such as The Times, The FT, and The Spectator. Crypto Confidential presents his scandalous insider’s account of the world’s fast-growing, most tempestuous asset class.

“Crypto Confidential is the final word on the cryptocurrency industry. Its lively and dramatic account of greed, corruption, and scandal will captivate you from start to finish. I have been speaking out about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency for nearly ten years, and this book is a visceral illustration of why. It shines an uncompromising light on the dangers and pitfalls of the 21st Century’s most malevolent fad, and I would recommend it as essential reading for anyone considering dabbling in digital assets.” –– Frank W. Abagnale: Author of Catch Me If You Can

“Everything you feared was true about crypto and much worse are laid bare in this gripping and infuriating insider account of his time at the forefront of the industry. Funny, illuminating and beautifully written.” 

Liam Vaughan, Author of Flash Crash: A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History

The book will be released on August 22, 2024. Pre-order here now.

Rights to travel writer Ros Belford’s memoir have gone to September Publishing.

The story of a single mum with two young children, not much money and a big dream – a beautifully vivid and evocative memoir of a mother’s move to a Sicilian island to give her daughters a childhood to remember.

Reeling from a broken relationship, Ros Belford decided the best chance she had of healing and giving her children an interesting childhood was to move to the Mediterranean and live by the sea. They end up on a small island off the coast of Sicily.

With humanity, vitality, honesty, and optimism, Ros Belford shows us what it is like as an outsider to live and bring a family up in Sicily. Children of the Volcano is for anyone unwilling to give up dreams of adventure and excitement simply because of parenthood, lack of income, and not getting things right the first time.

‘Immensely enjoyable … Ros’s experiences are fascinating. She’s clearly a woman and who doesn’t let the obstacles life throws at her get her down.’
Chris Stewart, author of Driving Over Lemons

‘A joyous tale of following one’s dreams, despite the obstacles.’
Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller

‘Thank you, Ros Belford! This delightful memoir has brought back to me the wonder, the
excitement and the challenges that come with embracing a new life in Sicily.’
Mary Taylor Simeti, author of On Persephone’s Island

Ros Belford spends her time between Salina, Siracusa and Cambridge and is the author of numerous guidebooks to Italy, Sicily and the Mediterranean. She has written articles on travel and food for many magazines and newspapers and is the Telegraph’s Sicilian travel expert. She has made radio programmes for the BBC. Recently, Ros climbed an active volcano on Lion TV’s The Rough Guide to Mediterranean Islands.

This book will be released on June 20, 2024.

Pre-order the book now: