TV/FILM HOT LIST - Transatlantic Agency

TV/FILM HOT LIST
2015-2016
OPTIONED PROPERTIES
FICTION
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Elisabeth de Mariaffi optioned by New Metric Media
ANTHEM O F A RELUCTANT PRO PHET by Joanne Proulx optioned by Sepia Films
QUIVER by Holly Luhning optioned by Halfire Entertainment
THE SILENT W IFE by A.S.A. Harrison (Viking US) optioned by Blossom Films and Mazur Kaplan.
INFIDELITY by Stacey May Fowles (ECW Press) optioned by Allison Black and Karen Shaw of
Quarterlife Crisis Productions Inc.
THE TIGER CLAW by Shauna Singh Baldwin (Knopf Random House) optioned by Mehernaz Lentin of
Industry Pictures and Lisa Ray of Breaking Through Creations.
BOTTLE ROCKET HEARTS by Zoe Whittall (Cormorant Books) optioned by producers Michelle
Mama, Stephanie Markowitz & Sonia Hosko.
“Throwing Cotton” by Sarah Selecky (Thomas Dunne Books) optioned by Natalie Urquhart of Same
Page Productions.
“This Is How W e Grow As Humans” by Sarah Selecky (Thomas Dunne Books) optioned by David
O’Brien of Firefly Pictures.
THE PRAIRIE BRIDESM AID by Daria Salamon (Key Porter) optioned by Eagle Vision.
DO W N TO THIS by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall (Random House) optioned by actor Jeff Lillico.
“How to Keep Your Day Job” by Rebecca Rosenblum (Biblioasis) optioned by Tyler Levine.
*PRODUCED
“Caw” by Sigal Samuel (Room Magazine) optioned by Broken Mirror Films.
NON-FICTION
TANGLES by Sarah Leavitt (Freehand Books) optioned by Giant Ant.
W HY NOT? by Ray Robertson (Biblioasis) optioned by January Films. *PRODUCED
2
Table of Contents
Book to TV
SECRET LIFE: THE JIAN GHOMESHI INVESTIGATION KEVIN DONOVAN ............... 4
BRIDE OF NEW FRANCE SUZANNE DESROCHERS ............................................................ 5
THE MIRACLES OF ORDINARY MEN AMANDA LEDUC ............................................... 6
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE WORLD AMANDA LEDUC .................................... 7
AGNES, MURDERESS SARAH LEAVITT............................................................................. 8
SO MUCH LOVE REBECCA ROSENBLUM ........................................................................... 9
CIRCLE OF STONES SUZANNE ALYSSA ANDREW .............................................................10
SHOPLIFTER MICHAEL CHO ........................................................................................... 11
HUNGOVER SHAUGHNESSY BISHOP-STALL ....................................................................... 12
Book to Film
I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS IAIN REID ........................................................ 13
MITZI BYTES KERRY CLARE............................................................................................. 14
THEY LEFT US EVERYTHING PLUM JOHNSON............................................................ 15
THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE ZOE WHITTALL ............................................................... 16
THIS IS NOT MY LIFE DIANE SCHOEMPERLEN ............................................................... 17
THINGS TO DO WHEN IT’S RAINING MARISSA STAPLEY ........................................... 18
THE MYSTICS OF MILE END SIGAL SAMUEL ............................................................... 19
SLEEPING FUNNY MIRANDA HILL ................................................................................ 20
FROM EARTH TO BABYLON DIANA TAMBLYN ............................................................ 21
3
Kevin Donovan
In SECRET LIFE: TH E JIAN GH O M ESH I INVESTIGATIO N, Kevin Donovan chronicles the
downfall of the celebrity radio host from a journalist’s unique perspective. This is the reallife, Good Night, and Good Luck .
Manuscript Available: August 2015
Publication Information: World English/French Rights to Kobo and ECW Press, August 2015
Kevin Donovan is an investigative reporter and editor at the Toronto Star. A thirty-year veteran of the paper,
he has twice won the Governor General’s Award (Michener) for public service journalism, holds three
National Newspaper Awards, and three Canadian Association of Journalists Awards. He is the author of THE
DEAD TIMES, a mystery novel, co-author with Nick Pron of Crime Story, and author of ORNGE: The Star
Investigation That Broke the Story. Kevin is the lead reporter on the Jian Ghomeshi investigation, and this is
his first nonfiction book.
Synopsis
In this riveting, fast-paced true-crime narrative, Donovan tells the stories behind the stories, describing the unfolding case
one event at a time, studying Ghomeshi’s character from early university days, through his ascent to stardom, then to his
eventual downfall and the ongoing aftermath of the scandal. Juxtaposing scenes from Ghomeshi’s public life with private
events described by his victims, demonstrating throughout the extreme contrast between the persona he crafted and the
alleged life of violence he was living behind the scenes. SECRET LIFE: THE JIAN GHOMESHI INVESTIGATION will
reveal what it’s been like to chase this story from the heart of the newsroom in which it first broke, describing his
interviews with victims and other sources as he pieces together a story he knew could end Ghomeshi’s career and shock
legions of fans.
As the head of the Star’s investigative team, Donovan has been pursuing the Ghomeshi case for over six months. He has
been interviewing a wide range of key sources, including many of the women who have come forward with complaints
against Ghomeshi, which gives him unparalleled insight into this case. He’s closer to this story than any other writer, and
he will tell it in ways that no news report ever could.
4
BOOK TO TV
Secret Life: The Jian
Ghomeshi Investigation
Suzanne Desrochers
In the tradition of television events such as The Book of Negroes , BRIDE
OF NEW FRANCE is a historical epic revealing the true story behind the
founding m others of French North Am erica. Canadian bestseller over
25,000 copies sold.
Manuscript Available: PDF available
Publication Information: Canada (English): Penguin, 2011; US: W.W. Norton; Spain: Random House Mondadori;
France: Editions Hurtubise HMH
Suzanne Desrochers is the author of the bestselling historical novel, BRIDE OF NEW
FRANCE, published by Penguin Canada in 2011. BRIDE OF NEW FRANCE was named in
The Globe and Mail's top 100 books of the year, and by the Quill and Quire as a top 5 book
of the year. She now lives in Toronto with her husband and two children and is at work on
the sequel to BRIDE OF NEW FRANCE titled, A DAUGHTER'S PRAYER, forthcoming
from Penguin Canada in Fall 2016.
Synopsis
In the mid-1600s, over 800 Parisian girls were sent to Canada to give birth to a nation. These women became the
founding mothers of French North America. Laure was one of them.
BRIDE OF NEW FRANCE is the fictionalized account of a Fille du Roi, Laure Beausejour. Laure was taken from her
destitute parents by archers and brought to the Salpetriere, Paris’ infamous women’s prison and poorhouse. Growing up
in a dormitory surrounded by prostitutes, the insane and other forgotten dregs, she dreams with her best friend,
Madeleine, of one day marrying a nobleman. But in 1669, Laure gets sent against her will across the Atlantic to New
France with a number of others, including her friend Madeleine.
After a torturous sea journey, Laure faces coming into womanhood in a colony that is rudimentary, and at its worst,
brutally dangerous. From the moment she arrives in Ville-Marie (Montreal), she is expected to marry and produce children
with a French soldier who can barely survive the harsh conditions of his forest cabin.
Abandoned by her soldier husband in the depths of winter, Laure survives through her wits and a clandestine relationship
with Deskaheh, an allied Iroquois. But what happens to a woman who attempts to make her own life choices in such
authoritative times? The epic story continues with the forthcoming sequel, A DAUGHTER'S PRAYER, available 2016.
5
BOOK TO TV
Bride of New France
BOOK ONE OF TRILOGY, DAYS OF AWE
Amanda Leduc
Echoing the acclaim ed HBO series “The Leftovers” and m iniseries
“Angels in Am erica” with a touch of “True Blood”, THE M IRACLES OF
ORDINARY M EN follows two people: a m an who wakes up one day to find him self growing
wings and the wom an who m eets him in her dream s.
BOOK TO TV
The Miracles of Ordinary
Men
Manuscript Available: PDF available
Publication Information: North America, ECW Press, 2013; Slovakia, Ikar
Amanda Leduc has published fiction and journalism across Canada, the US, and the UK, and
holds a Masters degree in Creative Writing from the University of St. Andrews. Her first novel
was shortlisted for the UK Daily Mail First Novel Award. She has been shortlisted for the CBC
Literary Awards, and nominated for the PRISM International Award. Amanda is at work on
her next novel, the third novel in her trilogy, called THOSE WHO CAME TO SAVE US.
Synopsis
THE MIRACLES OF ORDINARY MEN is the story of Sam, a man who wakes one day to find himself growing wings.
Ready, at first, to dismiss the wings as a hallucination, Sam is forced to reconsider what he knows about life and God
when he brings his cat back to life after a car accident. After this, it becomes apparent that the wings are real, and that
they are visible only to Sam and a chosen few. Thrust into action with the death of his mother, Sam embarks on a
pilgrimage to find a priest from his boyhood and begins to glimpse the angel he's becoming, alone and bereft of guidance.
It is also the story of Lilah, a woman who has lost her brother to the streets of Vancouver. Plagued by guilt and panic,
Lilah's own nights are filled with strange dreams—dreams of a man with wings, a man who might tell of her brother if
only she listens hard enough. Then Israel Riviera, her boss takes her out to supper and then back to his apartment and
beats her masochistically. Has God abandoned her, or is there a darker, more painful truth to be reconciled?
As Lilah's dreams strengthen and Sam begins to lose his grip on the world, the two draw closer and closer to a dark,
unknown destiny—one that will change all that they know about love and God; life and pain, and show them both light in
the most unlooked-for of places.
“Amanda Leduc’s The Miracles of Ordinary Men is fantastic
realism, if there is such a thing—well, there is now. Like a waking
dream, it has the capacity to seduce and surprise, and it exercises
its option on both.”
—Andrew Pyper, author of The Demonologist
“The Miracles of Ordinary Men is darkly ambitious yet
accessible, and mutable, for each reader will come to different
conclusions.”
—The Globe and Mail
6
BOOK TW O OF TRILOGY, DAYS OF AWE
Amanda Leduc
Rem iniscent of “The Leftovers”, and picking-up where THE M IRACLES
OF ORDINARY M EN left off, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE
W ORLD continues the story of Lilah Greene, now pregnant, possibly with the child of God,
accom panied by her two guardians, Sam the Angel, and the increasingly alcoholic Father
Jim as they escape to a distant island, Iona off the coast of Scotland, to hide from Israel
Rivera her dem onic lover.
Manuscript Available: PDF available
Publication Information: On offer
Amanda Leduc has published fiction and journalism across Canada, the US, and the UK, and holds a Masters
degree in Creative Writing from the University of St. Andrews. Her first novel was shortlisted for the UK
Daily Mail First Novel Award. She has been shortlisted for the CBC Literary Awards, and nominated for the
PRISM International Award. Amanda is at work on the third novel of the trilogy, THOSE WHO CAME TO
SAVE US.
Synopsis
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE WORLD will follow Lilah Greene, introduced to us in THE MIRACLES OF ORDINARY
MEN, as she runs away from her abusive lover. Lilah is pregnant, possibly with the child of God, and an angel of God has
come to her to deliver the news. The angel accompanies Lilah to the home of Father Jim, a priest of Lilah’s recent
acquaintance. Once here, Lilah learns from the angel that he used to be a human man named Sam who also knew Father
Jim. The priest agrees to accompany this odd duo further east as they seek to evade Lilah’s lover, Israel.
Lilah, Father Jim, and the angel will eventually travel to Iona, an island off the coast of Scotland. It is an island known to
Father Jim’s family that is also, on a wider scale, recognized as a place of spiritual retreat and healing so they are shocked
to discover Israel already waiting for them on the island—and Lilah is deeply troubled to realize that the angel ceases to
appear to anyone but her once they’ve all arrived on the island together.
As the months of her pregnancy draw to a close and she finds herself at the precipice of bringing new life into the world,
Lilah must grapple with some terrible questions in order to ensure her own safety and the safety of her child: did an angel
truly bring her here? Or has this angel, and God, only ever existed solely in her mind?
7
BOOK TO TV
The Light at the End of
the World
Sarah Leavitt
AGNES, M URDERESS is a graphic novel inspired by the bloody legend of
Agnes M acVee, roadhouse owner, m adam and serial killer, rum oured to
have m urdered m ore than 50 people in the Cariboo region of British
Colum bia in the m id-nineteenth century. AGNES, M URDERESS brings to
m ind the HBO cult classic, “Deadwood”, and “Vikings”.
Manuscript Available: June 2016, partial manuscript now available
Publication Information: Canada (English), Freehand Books 2017
Sarah Leavitt's first book, TANGLES: A STORY ABOUT ALZHEIMER'S, MY MOTHER,
AND ME, a graphic memoir, has been published in Canada, the US, UK, Germany, Korea
and France to international critical acclaim (LA Times, Vanity Fair, The Globe and Mail,
The Guardian). TANGLES was shortlisted for the Writer's Trust NonFiction Award, the winner of the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, the
winner of the CBC Bookies Best Graphic Novel, a Globe and Mail Best
Book of 2010, a Top 10 Book of 2010 Maisonneuve Magazine, and a
Canadian bestseller in the graphic novel category. More information
about Sarah Leavitt can be found on her website: sarahleavitt.com
http://www.sarahleavitt.com/
Synopsis
Agnes and her accomplices, her husband Jim and their friend Al Riley, settle in a small community on BC’s gold rush trail.
Agnes uses her roadhouse/brothel as the perfect hunting ground for victims: prospectors travelling alone with large
amounts of gold; any of her working girls who defy her; and any customer with money or treasures that catch her eye.
The centrepiece of her collection is a perfectly preserved skull, stolen from an aboriginal burial ground.
After ten murderous years, Agnes falls in love with one of her intended victims: Edward Eden, who passes as a man but is
actually a woman, seeking her own freedom in the wilds of BC. Meanwhile, Edward has formed a close friendship with
Kutumtinek, an aboriginal woman who acts as a healer/doctor for the women at the roadhouse. Edward and Kutumtinek
uncover Agnes’s crimes, and her downfall begins. The legend of Agnes MacVee says that she killed herself before she
could be hanged. But this retelling imagines a different ending, with a final battle between Agnes and the ghost of
Gormul, and Kutumtinek and Edward’s daring return of the skull to its rightful burying place.
8
BOOK TO TV
Agnes, Murderess
Rebecca Rosenblum
Olive Kitteridge m eets The Lovely Bones in this stunning first novel
about the unexpected reverberations the abduction of a young
wom an has on a sm all com m unity.
Manuscript Available: December 2015
Publication Information: Canada, McClelland & Stewart, 2016/2017
Rebecca Rosenblum's fiction has been short-listed for the Journey Prize, the National Magazine Award,
and the Danuta Gleed Award. ONCE her first collection of short stories, won the Metcalf-Rooke Award and
was one of Quill & Quire's 15 Books That Mattered in 2008. Her story “How To Quit Your Day Job” was
turned into an award winning short film. Rosenblum lives, works, and writes in Toronto.
Synopsis
When a young woman named Catherine Reindeer vanishes without a trace from her small town, those who know her are
left to cope with her absence. Moving from her outer circle of acquaintances to her closest intimates, the novel reveals
how the lives of those left behind can be overturned in the wake of an unexplained disappearance. But at the heart of the
novel is Catherine’s own story of resilience and recovery. When a final devastating loss after months of captivity forces
her to make a bold decision, she is unprepared for everything that follows her dramatic escape. Woven throughout are
stories about a local female poet who was murdered years earlier, a woman whose life and work become a lifeline for
Catherine during her darkest hours—and who may ultimately hold the key to Catherine’s quest to find solace in the
aftermath of unimaginable tragedy.
SO MUCH LOVE is a haunting story of longing and loss, the necessity of bearing witness, and what it means to tell your
own story.
9
BOOK TO TV
So Much Love
Suzanne Alyssa Andrew
An epic narrative m osaic in the tradition of anthology series
television and rem iniscent in atm osphere to Paul Thom as
Anderson’s M agnolia, CIRCLE OF STONES races across the
country from a coastal town on Vancouver Island to Toronto
and back again, as one m an’s quest to solve his girlfriend’s
disappearance is revealed through a chain of wild characters’
lives and secrets, all of whom are unwittingly connected to
the disappeared girls journey.
BOOK TO TV
Circle of Stones
Manuscript Available: PDF available
Publication Information: North America, Dundurn, 2015
Suzanne Alyssa Andrew grew up in Campbell River, a coastal community on Northern Vancouver Island. She
studied at Carleton University in Ottawa, where she earned a Bachelor of Journalism and a Master of Arts
degree in English. Her work has appeared in various publications including Taddle Creek, and the Toronto
Star. She lives in Toronto and CIRCLE OF STONES is her first book.
Synopsis
What if you witnessed a love story and solved a mystery through the eyes of bystanders who didn’t even know they were
part of the same story?
Did Jennifer purposely leave her boyfriend Nik? When Nik wakes up one morning to find Jennifer gone at first he thinks
she’s at an early morning dance rehearsal, but when she doesn’t return Nik is devastated and becomes determined to find
her. Unable to convince police this is a legitimate missing persons case, Nik sets out across the country to find her. But he
doesn’t anticipate just how far he’ll have to travel, or that an intimidating stranger from Jennifer’s past is looking for her
too. And what we learn of other people’s lives and secrets along the way is more unexpected and compelling than the
best road trip you’ve ever been on.
CIRCLE OF STONES is a propulsive and mysterious love story you won’t soon forget.
“A stunning mosaic, where isolated individuals are intriguingly
interwined.”
—National Post
“Circle of Stones is a stunning reading experience, a novel that
spans the country, evoking the goth clubs of Ottawa as strongly
as it does the beachfront communities of Vancouver Island
(where the author grew up), bringing to life a panoply of
characters, any one of whom could anchor a novel in their own
right. Despite the complexities of the structure, the novel is
easily accessible, owing largely to the crystalline quality of
Andrew’s prose, her deft skill with detail and setting, and the
accessibility, the humanity, of her characters.”
—Vancouver Sun
10
Michael Cho
In the tradition of Ghost W orld by Daniel Clowes, com es M ichael Cho's
highly anticipated original graphic novel debut SHOPLIFTER, a riveting
portrait of a frustrated young wom an who shoplifts at night to ease the
pains of her shallow day job.
BOOK TO TV
Shoplifter
Debuted at #6 on The New York Times Graphic Novel Bestseller List
Manuscript Available: PDF available
Publication Information: France: Outsider, Delcourt; Spain: Reservoir Books, Mondadori; Germany: Egmont; World
English: Pantheon
Michael Cho is a freelance cartoonist/illustrator based in Toronto. He's painted covers for
Penguin Classics and Random House, drawn numerous editorial illustratons for clients like
the New York Times Book Review and Billboard Magazine, as well as publishing an art book
of his drawings, "Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes" with Drawn & Quarterly. His comic
story "trinity" was selected by editor Neil Gaiman for the Best American Comics anthology
in 2010. Cho’s comic story "Stars" won a 2008 Canadian National Magazine Award Silver
while another story, "Night Time", was a finalist for a 2005 Canadian Magazine Awards. His
webcomic “Papercut” was a finalist for the 2008 Shuster awards in the webcomic category.
Cho has also written and illustrated other comics for publishers such as Marvel, DC, Image and Adhouse
Books.
Synopsis
Single, albeit living with a rather bossy cat for company at night, Corinna needs to take the edge off her career angsts and
finds shoplifting really does the trick. She only steals magazines, inserted into her newspaper which she pays for, but the
high helps keep her quarterlife crisis temporarily at bay. When her frenemy the foxy receptionist beds the only decent guy
she’s met in the last decade, Corinna spirals out, gets busted and makes a big change in her life to reclaim her worth and
her dreams.
“Michael Cho’s Shoplifter, his first graphic novel, is a joy to
behold—so beautiful it will make all other cartoonists weep with
envy”
—Seth, Author of Palookaville
“Cho's illustrations are the real draw, with dense, rose-tinted
cityscapes that perfectly convey the loneliness of urban life. It's a
notable debut."
—Entertainment Weekly
11
A HISTORY OF THE MORNING AFTER AND ONE M AN’S QUEST FOR THE
CURE
Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall
Part Sim on W inchester, part Joshua Foer, part A.J. Jacobs, and all
Bishop-Stall, HUNGOVER brings m assively successful docum entary
Super Size M e to m ind as a provocative look at lifestyle choices in
our indulgent culture.
Manuscript Available: October 2015
Publication Information: Canada English & French, HarperCollins Canada, 2016; US, Viking, 2016; Germany, Dumont
Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall’s first book was DOWN TO THIS: Squalor and Splendour in a Big-City
Shantytown. It was nominated for the 2005 Pearson Writers’ Trust of Canada Non-Fiction Prize, the
Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize, the Trillium Award and the City of Toronto Book Award. The following
year, he was awarded the Knowlton Nash Journalism Fellowship at Massey College. He currently teaches
writing at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. GHOSTED, his first novel was
published by Random House Canada in 2010, in the US by Softskull Press and in France by Actes Sud.
GHOSTED was a finalist for the Amazon First Novel Award.
Synopsis
HUNGOVER is an irresistible blend of culture, history, science, philosophy, and mischievous humour. It will be, like its
author, a little bit bad, but in a good way. It will be unique, enlightening and entertaining—full of surprising anecdotes,
stories of epic struggle, little-known facts and questionable advice. And it will include the author’s own epic morningafter tale, The Accidental Sombrero.
And as long as there have been hangovers, there have been attempts to get rid of them. The ancient Romans ate owl
eggs, the Mongolians sheep eyes, and the Syrians ground up sparrow beaks. To this day, despite convenience shelves full
of mass marketed elixirs, the true antidote still eludes us.
In HUNGOVER: A HISTORY OF THE MORNING AFTER AND ONE MAN’S QUEST FOR THE CURE, acclaimed
journalist, novelist and witty raconteur Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall explores what happens to our bodies when we over
imbibe and all the ways, over time and through cultures, we’ve tried to fix it. He delves into the infamous consequences
of those rough mornings, drawing on the experiences of the greats of the past—from Noah to Churchill to pitcher David
Wells—and reveals his own personal quest to find relief.
12
BOOK TO TV
Hungover
Iain Reid
Rem iniscent of the high concept m aster Jose Saram ago and the
haunting literary atm osphere of Sara Gran’s Com e Closer,
m atched with the chilling psychological force of The Shining and Rosemary’s Baby , com es
Iain Reid’s haunting literary thriller, I’M TH INKING O F ENDING TH INGS.
Manuscript Available: June 2015
Publication Information: Canada (English), Simon & Schuster Canada; US Scout Press, Simon & Schuster, 2016
Winner of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Iain Reid’s first book, the critically acclaimed comic
memoir, ONE BIRD'S CHOICE, won the CBC Bookie Award for Best Nonfiction Book of the year and was
translated into German and Chinese. His most recent book, THE TRUTH ABOUT LUCK, was named by The
Globe and Mail as one of the best books of 2013. In 2012, Reid was named by The Globe and Mail as a top-5
up-and-coming Canadian author. He writes a regular column about books and writing for the The Globe and
Mail. I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS is his first novel. He is at work on his next novel, also a work of
literary horror, called MEAT.
Synopsis
I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS seems to be about a young couple in the early throes of a relationship. Amidst
uncertainty, and questions of commitment, they’ve set out on their first road trip, so The Girlfriend can meet the
boyfriend, Jake’s, parents.
A sense of unease, tension, and confusion begin as oddities occur, and strange voice messages appear on The Girlfriend’s
phone. When Jake takes an impromptu detour on the way home, The Girlfriend is left alone in the car, out in the country,
in the middle of a harsh winter storm. She’s abruptly and maliciously faced with her own mortality and the dilemma of
what to do about her suddenly disappeared boyfriend, as she goes deeper and deeper into a dark secret where story,
nightmare, memory, and psychological frailty combine to evoke our worst fear.
I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS is part literary thriller, part philosophical dialogue on the limitations of reality. The
full story isn’t unlocked until the very last words are read.
“Iain Reid’s I'm Thinking Of Ending Things is brilliant. We have
simply not been able to stop talking about it."
—Simon & Schuster Canada
13
BOOK TO FILM
I'm Thinking of
Ending Things
Kerry Clare
A grown-up Harriet the Spy for the digital age, M itzi Bytes is a
novel about fam ily and friendship, and the perils and pleasures
of living life online.
Manuscript Available: PDF available
Publication Information: On offer
Kerry Clare is a National Magazine Award-nominated writer, and editor of the anthology THE M WORD:
CONVERSATIONS ABOUT MOTHERHOOD, which was published to rave reviews in 2014. Her essays,
reviews and short fiction have appeared most recently in The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Joyland, Canadian
Notes & Queries and The New Quarterly. Well into her second decade of blogging, Kerry teaches “The Art of
Blogging” at the University of Toronto, and writes about books and reading at her popular website,
PickleMeThis.com.
Synopsis
In her twenties, Sarah Lundy started an anonymous blog called Mitzi Bytes, candidly documenting her return to the
dating scene after a devastating divorce. Through her blog, Sarah not only found her feet again, but she found her voice,
with legions of readers eagerly awaiting her every post.
Fifteen years later, Sarah is married with children, ensconced in a comfortable life she loves, and she’s still blogging, these
days documenting domestic adventures. But nobody—not even her husband—knows about Sarah’s Mitzi incarnation, or
that she’s been sharing the details of their lives with the world, usually in stark detail, no punches pulled.
Which means that Sarah is possibly in trouble when she starts receiving threatening emails from the mysterious Jane Q.
Time’s up, the first one says. This game is over. You’re officially found out.
Over a difficult week, Sarah tries to discover Jane Q’s identity first before her secret online self is revealed to the people
she cares about. Of Sarah’s relationships with friends and family, which has reached this terrible breaking point? Which of
the others will be strong enough to withstand the shock of meeting Mitzi face-to-face?
What price will Sarah have to pay for sharing so much of her life online—even if what she’s written has been the truth all
along?
14
BOOK TO FILM
Mitzi Bytes
Plum Johnson
Like the m ovie, The Savages, anyone who has ever dealt with aging
parents will relate to the dem ands, resentm ent, guilt, and, in the end, the
dispersal of possessions— saying goodbye and letting go. Canadian
bestseller and prize-winner.
Manuscript Available: PDF available
Publication Information: Canada English, Penguin Canada, 2014; US Putnam, Penguin 2016
BOOK TO FILM
They Left Us Everything
Winner of the RBC Charles Taylor Prize, shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Award and the
Kobo Emerging Author Award, Plum Johnson was the founder of KidsCanada Publishing
corp., and publisher of KidsToronto; In 2002, she co-founded Help’s Here! magazine. Plum
is at work on her next memoir, EVERYTHING AND MORE!
Synopsis
THEY LEFT US EVERYTHING is a funny, touching memoir about the importance of preserving family history to make
sense of the past, and nurturing family bonds to safeguard the future.
After almost twenty years of caring for elderly parents—first for their senile father with British roots, and then for their
cantankerous 93-year old mother with Southern Belle American roots—author Plum Johnson and her three younger
brothers have finally fallen to their middle-aged knees with conflicted feelings of grief and relief. Now they must empty
and sell the beloved family home. It hasn’t been de-cluttered in over half a century. Twenty-three rooms bulge with
history, antiques, and oxygen tanks. Her mother always said, “You’ll have to shovel me out of here!” and Plum always
thought: How hard will that be? I know how to buy garbage bags. But the task turns out to be much harder and more
rewarding than she ever imagined. Items from childhood trigger difficult memories of her eccentric family growing up in a
small town on the shores of Lake Ontario in the 1950s and 60s, but unearthing new facts about her parents helps her
reconcile those relationships, with a more accepting perspective about who they were and what they valued.
Winner of the RBC Taylor Prize and nominated for the Stephen
Leacock Award
“An unassuming memoir that hits you deep in the gut, leaving
you bruised and thoughtful long after its last page.”
–National Post
“At times heartbreaking and at others hysterically funny,
Johnson's memories propel the narrative from volatile midcentury Singapore to a sprawling, colonial-era Virginia estate and
beyond, but always settle back to the rambling family home on
the shores of Lake Ontario; a place "seared into their
bones." ...The book's descriptive prose brings these places and
people to life and poignantly conveys the quasi-spiritual journey
that helps Johnson overcome her grief."
-Publisher's Weekly
15
A NOVEL
Zoe Whittall
Like Doubt: A Parable , by John Patrick Shanley, com es Zoe
W hittall's new novel— a sophisticated and psychologically charged
suspense exploring how charges of wrongdoing have a life of their
own, what it m eans to be a victim , the lim its of filial em pathy, and the oft neglected
stories of what happens to the loved ones left behind when a fam ily m em ber is
incarcerated.
Manuscript Available: October 2015
Publication Information: World Rights, House of Anansi, 2016
Zoe Whittall's latest literary novel, HOLDING STILL FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE (House of Anansi), won a
2011 Lambda Literary Award, was shortlisted for the ReLit award and named an American Library
Association honour book. Her debut novel BOTTLE ROCKET HEARTS (Cormorant, 07) was named a Globe
and Mail Best Book of the Year, made the CBC Canada Reads Top Ten Essential Novels of the decade, was
translated into French and optioned for film. She won the Writers' Trust of Canada's Dayne Ogilvie Award in
2008. Her freelance journalism has appeared in The Walrus, The Believer, The Globe and Mail, The National
Post, and Fashion Magazine. She is currently developing an original sitcom series with a major National
Canadian broadcaster, and moonlighting as a stand-up comic.
Synopsis
George Woodbury, an affable teacher, beloved husband and father, is arrested for attempted rape at a prestigious prep
school. The town is divided by those who throw eggs at the family’s front door and those who insist he’s been framed.
National men’s rights activist groups jump to his defense, and camera-ready gossip bloggers camp out on their street. The
Woodbury family is left to pick up the pieces while George awaits trial. George’s wife Joan, a trauma nurse, is unable to
triage her emotional reactions, vaulting between denial and rage. Daughter Liz, the consummate over-achiever, finds
herself paralyzed on her boyfriend’s couch with a bong. Son Andrew, a lawyer in New York, tries to both assist in his
father’s defense and wrestle with the possibility of his guilt. Spending time in his hometown brings back memories of his
first love with the closeted high school gym teacher. While George maintains his innocence, his family spins out. An
author attempts to exploit their story, while they try to function through a year in their lives before the court decides
George’s fate. The novel explores loyalty and happiness and what compromise means to a family in the 21st century.
Praise for BOTTLE ROCKET HEARTS
“Zoe Whittall might just be the cockiest, brashest, funniest,
toughest, most life-affirming, elegant, scruffy, no-holds-barred
writer to emerge from Montreal since Mordecai Richler...Bottle
Rocket Hearts is a major statement about lessening unhappiness
by overcoming the small dishonesties that creep into everyday
life."
—The Globe and Mail
16
BOOK TO FILM
The Best Kind of People
THE STORY OF MY PRISON YEARS
Diane Schoemperlen
“How do you fall in love with a m urderer? Nobody ever asked m e
this question, at least not directly. But if they had, this book
would be m y answer.” – Diane Schoem perlen
Manuscript Available: June 2015
Publication Information: Canada, HarperCollins, 2016
Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Diane Schoemperlen has published several collections of short
fiction and three novels. Her 1990 story collection, THE MAN OF MY DREAMS, was shortlisted for both the
Governor-General’s Award and the Trillium. FORMS OF DEVOTION: Stories and Pictures won the 1998
Governor-General’s Award for English Fiction. Viking Penguin US published IN THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE,
FORMS OF DEVOTION, OUR LADY OF THE LOST AND FOUND, RED PLAID SHIRT, and NAMES OF
THE DEAD: An Elegy for the Victims of September 11. Her books have been published internationally in the
U.K., Germany, Sweden, Spain, France, Korea, and China. In 2007 she received the Marian Engel Award from
the Writers’ Trust of Canada and in 2012, she was Writer-in-Residence at Queen’s University. Her latest
book, published in 2014 in both Canada and the U.S. by Biblioasis, is BY THE BOOK, a collection of stories
drawn from old textbooks from the early 1900s and illustrated with her own full-colour collages.
Synopsis
Schoemperlen met Shane in 2006 when she was volunteering at a soup kitchen while trying to get over a broken heart
and the writers’ block that had followed. He was a fifty-seven-year-old federal inmate sent there on a work release,
serving a life sentence for second-degree murder. He had been in prison for almost thirty years. What began as
camaraderie between two co-workers bloomed into friendship and then romance.
Diane knew almost nothing about prison. There was, as it turned out, a lot to learn. For almost six years she travelled
through the prison system with Shane, a journey that was, by turns, fascinating, frustrating, and frightening—a journey
that was also not without its moments of great joy, profound tenderness, helpless outrage, and raucous dark humour.
Her friend once commented, “I can’t believe you ever really thought this was going to have a happy ending.” She did. But
the happy ending never came.
“The best portions of ‘By the Book’ suggest ways old texts might
speak to us today, chopped up, reordered, tweet-ready.
Schoemperlen works in a tradition that recalls, in addition to
Lethem and Shields, the cubist fictions of Lydia Davis, David
Markson and Padgett Powell. The most effective stories here
affirm the notion, put forth by Schoemperlen in a Q. and A., that
“the beauty of a fragment is that it still supports the hope of a
brilliant completeness.”
—The New York Times
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BOOK TO FILM
This is Not My Life
Marissa Stapley
From the bestselling author of M ATING FOR LIFE, rem iniscent in
atm osphere to the best m ovies of Norah Ephron and Nicholas
Sparks, com es two love stories in one, both connected to The Sum m ers' Inn, perched at the
edge of the St. Lawrence River.
Manuscript Available: September 2015
Publication Information: Canada, Simon & Schuster, 2016
Marissa Stapley writes the column “Shelf Love” for The Globe and Mail. Her first novel, MATING FOR LIFE,
was a Canadian bestseller and received enormous praise nationwide. Stapley is a former magazine editor who
now writes freelance for The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Elle Canada and Today's Parent. She
teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto, and editing at Centennial College. She currently lives
in Toronto with her husband and two young children. THINGS TO DO WHEN IT'S RAINING is her second
novel. She is at work on her next.
Synopsis
Orphaned as an infant, Mae Summers was raised by her grandparents, Lilly and George, at the seasonal inn they have
operated together for nearly sixty years called The Summers’ Inn. The inn has always been to Mae both an idyll and a
desolate symbol of what she has lost: not just her parents, but Noah, the island-dwelling boy who was her companion as
a child and her first love as a teenage girl, but then disappeared from her life without a trace.
Searching for happiness, Mae moved to New York, got engaged, and started a company. But deception and despair have
brought her back home. When she arrives, she is forced to face the fact that Summers’ Inn may soon become nothing but
a memory, and that everything she is trying to cling to in order to heal is flowing away from her, fast.
Populated with authentic characters and heartbreakingly real situations, Stapley’s characters and Summers’ Inn come to
life on the page, all playing an important role in a story that is nostalgic, hopeful, and, in the trademark style of this
author, redemptive. The pain of life is revealed, but so is the joy of it, and the ways in which humans can find meaning in
it, by learning to let go of fear and embrace hope.
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BOOK TO FILM
Things To Do When It's
Raining
Sigal Samuel
W ith the quirky intelligent appeal of Extremely Loud and Incredibly
Close and The Royal Tenenbaums , M YSTICS OF M ILE END tells the
story of what happens when a dysfunctional fam ily grows obsessed with
a dangerous m ystical idea— the kabbalistic Tree of Life— an aging
neighbor is forced to m ake the ultim ate sacrifice to pull them back
from the brink of m adness.
Manuscript Available: PDF available
Publication Information: Canada, Freehand Books; US, HarperCollins, 2015
Sigal Samuel, a writer and editor for The Jewish Daily Forward, previously served as
senior editor at The Daily Beast. She has published fiction and journalism in
BuzzFeed, Tablet, The Walrus, Descant, and Room, among others. She has been a
featured writer at the Blue Metropolis International Literary
Festival and her plays have been produced in Montreal,
Vancouver and New York City. While pursuing her MFA in
creative writing at the University of British Columbia, Sigal
was awarded the Laura Fowler Scholarship for outstanding women in the fine arts.
She won the Lionel Shapiro Award and the Chester Macnaghten Prize for creative
writing from McGill University. Originally from Montreal, she now lives and writes
in Brooklyn.
Synopsis
Reminiscent of The History of Love by Nicole Krauss and "Bee Season" by Myla Goldberg, this debut novel weaves
together four distinct voices to tell a story of extraordinary faith, intelligence and feeling.
Eleven-year-old Lev Meyer has never been so confused in his life. At home, his sister Samara gets nervous whenever their
dad is around. In school, his friend Alex is writing a diary in code. And around the block in Montreal’s Mile End
neighborhood, crazy Mr. Katz is trying to recreate the biblical Tree of Knowledge out of plucked leaves, toilet paper rolls,
and dental floss.
When David Meyer, Lev's father and a professor of Jewish mysticism, is diagnosed with an unusual heart murmur, his
world is turned upside down. Convinced his heart is whispering divine secrets, he pushes his body to the limit to hear the
message buried in the tissue. But when his frenzied attempt to ascend the Tree of Life leads to tragedy, Samara believes
it is up to her to finish what he started. Lev, her precocious brother, documents her increasingly strange behavior while
embarking on his own quest for spiritual fulfillment. It falls to next-door neighbor and Holocaust survivor Chaim
Glassman to shatter the silence that divides the members of the Meyer family. But will he break through to them in time?
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BOOK TO FILM
The Mystics of Mile End
Miranda Hill
Rem iniscent of Spike Jonze's Adaptation , this collection, a
contem porary classic, united by its suspense, surprise and crisp prose.
In which the real world, whether in the present or past, is recognizable
and sim ultaneously a little askew, alm ost as if we had been sleeping
funny while reading them .
BOOK TO FILM
Sleeping Funny
Manuscript Available: PDF available
Publication Information: Canada English, Doubleday Canada, 2012
Miranda Hill won the Writer's Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize in 2011. Her
writing has been published or is forthcoming in The New Quarterly, The Dalhousie
Review, The Fiddlehead and the upcoming Journey Prize Anthology 23. Hill received
her BA in Drama from Queen’s University and her MFA in Creative Writing from the
University of British Columbia. She is the founder and executive
director of Project Bookmark Canada, and lives in Hamilton,
Ontario, with her husband Lawrence Hill. SLEEPING FUNNY is
her first book. She is at work on her first novel.
Synopsis
SLEEPING FUNNY travels back through time from a current-day, wealthy Ontario-esque suburb, where a group of
women lose their self-confidence upon the arrival of a new beautiful bohemian neighbour in “The Variance” all the way
back to 19th century Kingston in “Rise: A Requiem (with Parts for Voice and Wing)” the final story, in which a minister has
his faith and reason tested by an impoverished medical student. In between, descending backwards into time, a sex-ed
class offers an unexpected twist on parenting and abstinence in “Apple”; in “Petitions to Saint Chronic,” a man who
survives a failed suicide attempt embodies the hope and expectation of three strangers; and a mild-mannered
government employee is changed forever by a detour on his daily commute in “6:19”. Our next stop is the early seventies
in Northern Ontario, where a father’s passion for a country singer precipitates a family’s near breakdown and provides
the means for their reconciliation in “Because of Geraldine”; then back to the fifties for the dark fairytale of “Precious”;
and then to WW2, as a pilot’s widow tries to reclaim her husband and her place in the community by building a Victory
Garden in “Digging for Thomas”.
“Like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole and arriving in a
strange and exotic land, reading one of Miranda Hill’s stories is
to be delivered to an almost dreamlike place where familiar
themes in fiction—love, loss, family, identity, faith—reveal
themselves in delightfully unexpected, unsettling ways.”
—Starred Review, Quill & Quire
“[Miranda Hill’s] writing feels so measured and fluid that you
have to double back, having been lulled by the gentle rhythms
into missing the hint of something not quite right… a confident,
captivating book”
—The Walrus
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THE STORY OF GERALD BULL AND THE SUPERGUN
A COMIC-STRIP BIOGRAPHY
Diana Tamblyn
This true story mixes the wild and crazy as we follow Gerald
Bull— 20th century’s m ost brilliant scientist on his quest to build
the Super Gun for Saddam H ussein. A journalist’s pace is m ixed
with a m esm erizing biography— think, “A Beautiful M ind,” m eets
John LeCarre— in this unique, political graphic novel.
Manuscript Available: December 2015
Publication Information: On offer
Diana Tamblyn is an Ignatz-nominated cartoonist. Chosen by The Globe and Mail as a
Canadian cartoonist to watch, her most recent work is “The Rosie Stories,” a comic about
motherhood ,and “The Toca Loca Project”, commissioned by spectral music band Toca
Loca. Her artwork has appeared in solo and group art shows. Diana received a BFA in Film
Animation from Concordia University and currently lives in London, Ontario. Her
website: www.dianatamblyn.com
Synopsis
FROM EARTH TO BABYLON is a historical comic-strip biography based on the life of Gerald Bull—considered to be one
of the most brilliant scientists of the twentieth century—whose work affected the course of two modern wars. Bull’s
research led him across the globe, from Canada, to the Pentagon in the U.S., to Barbados, South Africa and Iraq—where
he developed the “Supergun” for Saddam Hussein, and ultimately to Brussels, where he was assassinated in 1990.
Much like a John LeCarre story of drama, intrigue and international politics, theories still abound as to who was
responsible—ranging from Iran, the CIA, the Israeli Mossad, to the Iraqis themselves. Though his family is still searching,
his assassin has never been found and the case remains open in Belgium.
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BOOK TO FILM
From Earth to Babylon
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