Sheil Land Associates Ltd.
Karen Bartlett has won the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Writing for The Escape from Kabul (Duckworth Books)
June 25th, 2026
The Escape from Kabul is the never-before-told story of the escape of nearly 200 women and their families, thanks to a network of professional friends, female judges and lawyers from around the world, who refused to abandon them to the Taliban.
Full details here: The Bookeller
Rachael King's Song of the Saltings hits #1 in the New Zealand Junior Fiction and Young Adult Bestseller List, May - June 2026
June 13th, 2026
Rachael King's Violet and the Velvets: The Case of the Missing Stuff is a Storylines Notable Book Award Winner
May, 2026
-Shortlisted, Booksellers’ Choice Children’s Book Award 2026
-Longlisted, ASLA DANZ Children’s Book Award 2026
-Shortlisted, New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2025 and New Zealand Booklovers Award, 2026
Full details here: www.Rachael-King.com
Louisa Treger tells Ruth Ellis's story at Bloomsbury
March 26th, 2026
Following Ruth Ellis' long-awaited posthumous conditional pardon in July 2026, never has there been a more compelling moment to revisit the woman behind one of Britain's most enduring legal cases.
Full details here: Bookbrunch
Harlequin acquires The Little Shop of Celtic Charms by Lou Hallow, in two book deal
February 17th, 2026
Viper Books announces Janice Hallett's hugely-anticipated return to the world of her internationally bestselling debut The Appeal, with The Silent Appeal
November 19th, 2025
Full details here: The Bookseller
Sourcebooks to publish Before I Disappear by Cate Quinn, author of IndieNext Pick The Bridesmaid
November 10th, 2025
Datura acquires The Drowned Siren by Calisto Lodwick
July 8th, 2025
Cinto Press (an imprint of Bath Publishing) has acquired the rights to an “explosive” new memoir from top media lawyer Louis Charalambous
June 10th, 2025
Full details here: The Bookseller
Hachette Children's to publish two non-fiction books by actor and award-winning author Paterson Joseph
May 30th, 2025
Full details here: The Bookseller
Watermark Press signs 'deeply moving' new novel from award-winning author Jane Fraser
October 28th, 2025
Full details here: Bookbrunch
DK Children’s buys 'hilarious new non fiction series An Alien’s Guide to…' from BAFTA award-winning screenwriter Myles McLeod in four-book deal
April 10th, 2025
Full details here: Bookbrunch
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Indie publisher Reaktion celebrates 40th birthday as it signs two-book deal with Peter Ackroyd
March 28th, 2025
Full details here: Bookbrunch
Margaret K. McElderry Books to publish two novels by bestselling, prize-winning author Rachael King
March 3rd, 2025
Dial Press acquires two new novels from USA Today bestselling author Kate Goldbeck
February 18th, 2025
Francesco Dimitri's Pan, translated by Sophia McDougall, sold to Tor
February 11th, 2025
HarperCollins has acquired world rights for Downfall by Nadine Dorries.
September 5th, 2024
Full details here: The Bookseller
Wednesday Books / Macmillan US and Harper Fire UK have snapped up The Thrashers, a "gripping" YA novel by bestselling author Julie Soto
July 30th, 2024
Full details here: The Bookseller
Hachette Ireland acquires The Bookseller's Gift by USA Today bestselling author Felicity Hayes-McCoy
July 24th, 2024
Forever / Grand Central US and HarperFiction UK have acquired a dark romantasy trilogy and two rom-coms by USA bestselling author Julie Soto in a major deal
June 27th, 2024
Full details here: The Bookseller
Puffin has acquired the first children’s book by British Book Award winner Janice Hallett, A Box Full of Murders, in a three-book deal
March 22nd, 2024
Full details here: The Bookseller
Berkley acquires USA Today bestseller Jenna Levine's Road Trip with a Vampire in a new two book deal
March 20th, 2024
Guppy Books has snapped up The Grimmelings, a "mesmerising" middle grade fantasy novel by bestselling, prize-winning author Rachael King.
March 6th, 2024
Full details here: The Bookseller
HarperCollins has acquired to The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson by former culture secretary Nadine Dorries
July 12th, 2023
Full details here: The Bookseller
New Press acquires Karen Bartlett's Escape from Kabul: The Afghan Women Judges Who Fled the Taliban and Those They Left Behind, about the fight to evacuate Afghan women judges after the Taliban's return to power
June 16th, 2023
Paterson Joseph wins Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize
June 8th, 2023
Paterson Joseph's The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho (Dialogue Books) has won the RSL Christopher Bland Prize, celebrating outstanding achievements for a debut novelist or non-fiction writer, first published aged 50 or over.
Full details here: The Bookseller
Biteback has acquired We Were Blackwater: Life, death and madness in the killing fields of Iraq, an SAS veteran’s true story
May 25th, 2023
Full details here: The Bookseller
Transworld has acquired You, Again, dubbed the “deliciously offbeat modern reimagining of ‘When Harry Met Sally’” from debut author Kate Goldbeck
May 24h, 2023
Full details here: The Bookseller
The Twyford Code wins Crime & Thriller Book of the Year at the British Book Awards
May 15th, 2023
Janice Hallett's THE TWYFORD CODE has won the Crime & Thriller Nibbie at the British Book Awards 2023.
Full details here: The Bookseller
The Twyford Code and The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho are shortlisted for Nibbies at the British Book Awards
March 17th, 2023
Janice Hallett's THE TWYFORD CODE is shortlisted for Crime & Thriller Book of the Year, and Paterson Joseph's THE SECRET DIARIES OF CHARLES IGNATIUS SANCHO is nominated for a Discover Book of the Year Award.
Full details here: The Bookseller
Wildfire acquires Lesley McDowell’s feminist historical retelling of the life of Claire Clairmont, “the secret muse of the Romantics”
March 8th, 2023
Full details here: The Bookseller
Mitchell Beazley acquires memoir of survival and optimism by founder of Ghost
February 23rd, 2023
Mitchell Beazley, part of the Octopus Publishing Group, has acquired Free Spirit by Tanya Sarne, founder of the fashion brand Ghost. Publisher Alison Starling acquired world English-language rights from Piers Blofeld of Sheil Land Associates for publication on 6th April.
Full details here: The Bookseller
Paterson Joseph longlisted for Walter Scott Prize for
Historical Fiction
February 14th, 2023
The longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction features novels by Paterson Joseph, Sean Lusk and Elizabeth Lowry. In total, 12 novels are in contention for the £25,000 prize, including Joseph’s The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatio Sancho (Dialogue Books)
Full details here: The Bookseller
Jane Fraser's debut novel ADVENT wins the Paul Torday
Memorial Prize 2022
June 1st 2022
Jane Fraser's debut novel ADVENT (Honno) has won the Paul Torday Memorial Prize in this year's Society of Authors Awards. The Paul Torday Memorial Prize is awarded to a first novel by a writer over 60, the age when Paul Torday published his first novel, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN. Jane received the award in a ceremony at Southwark Cathedral. More details about the prize and this year's shortlist here: The Paul Torday Prize | The Society of Authors
Janice Hallett longlisted for CWA New Blood award
April 25 2022
Janice Hallett's debut THE APPEAL has been nominated for the Crime Writers' Association New Blood Award for debut fiction. Full details here: The Bookseller - News - Hawkins, Billingham, Hallett and Banville on CWA Dagger longlists
HarperFiction pre-empts 'unforgettable' steamy rom-com from debut author Soto in two-book deal
July 20th 2022
HarperFiction has snapped up an “unforgettable steamy rom-com” by debut author Julie Soto in a two-book pre-empt. Martha Ashby, editorial director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to Forget Me Not and one other book from Gaia Banks at Sheil Land Associates. North American rights were bought by Junessa Viloria at Grand Central. Full details here: The Bookseller
Lume Books signs two-book deal with Dr Sarah Sigal
January 10th, 2023
Lume Books has signed a two-book deal with writer and dramaturg Sarah Sigal. Aubrie Artiano, head of publishing, acquired worldwide English language rights for both novels from Gaia Banks at Sheil Land Associates. The first book in a new series, The Socialite Spy, will be published in November 2023.
Full details here: The Bookseller
Monoray acquires 'highly entertaining' book about tax in
six-way auction
January 25th, 2023
Monoray has bagged the rights to a "highly entertaining" book about tax in a six-way auction from anonymous author ‘The Rebel Accountant’. UK Commonwealth rights to Taxtopia were acquired by publisher Jake Lingwood from Piers Blofeld at Sheil Land Associates. Taxtopia will publish 30th March in hardback. Little is known about the Rebel Accountant bar the fact that he is a chartered tax adviser who has worked at major accountancy firms and start-ups in London and Australia.
Full details here: The Bookseller
Viper lands four more from The Appeal author Hallett in
six-figure deal
September 14th 2022
Viper has signed four more books from Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal and The Twyford Code (Viper), in a six-figure deal. Miranda Jewess, publishing director at the Serpent’s Tail’s crime imprint, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights plus audio for the books from Gaia Banks at Sheil Land Associates for a "significant" sum. Full details here: The Bookseller
Frances Lincoln acquires Peter Ackroyd's COLOURS OF LONDON
April 7 2022
Philip Cooper, publisher at Frances Lincoln, has acquired world rights in COLOURS OF LONDON from Sonia Land at Sheil Land Associates. It will publish on 4th October 2022.
The publisher said: “London has been the main character in Ackroyd’s work ever since his first novel, and he has won countless prizes in both fiction and non-fiction for his truly remarkable body of work. Here, he channels a lifetime of knowledge of the great city, writing with clarity and passion about the hues and shades which have shaped London’s journey through history into the present day.”
Full details at The Bookseller here: The Bookseller - Rights - Frances Lincoln scoops Ackroyd's examination of London's relationship with colour
Janice Hallett shortlisted for best Crime & Thriller novel at the Nibbies
March 25 2022
Janice Hallett's debut THE APPEAL has been shortlisted in the Crime and Thriller category at the British Book Awards. Full details here: The Bookseller - Awards - The British Book Awards
Janice Hallett shortlisted for best debut at CrimeFest
March 15 2022
Janice Hallett has been shortlisted for the Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award at this year’s CrimeFest. Full details here: The Bookseller - News - Dean, Hallett and Mir compete for debut award as CrimeFest shortlists revealed
June 29th 2022
Janice Hallett wins John Creasey CWA New Blood Award
Janice Hallett's debut The Appeal has won the Crime Writers' Association New Blood Award for debut fiction. Full details here: John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger - The Crime Writers' Association (thecwa.co.uk)
Rachel Elliott Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction for the
second time
March 8 2022
We’re delighted to say that Rachel Elliott’s third novel FLAMINGO has been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022. Mary Ann Sieghart, chair of the judges, called FLAMINGO ‘The most wonderful, life-affirming, readable book.' Full details at The Bookseller here
This is the second time Rachel has been longlisted for the prize: her debut WHISPERS THROUGH A MEGAPHONE (ONE/ Pushkin Press) was on the 2016 longlist.