Ibrahim Ahmad at Viking won, at auction, U.S. rights to Smarter Than Us: Superintelligence and the Future of Humanity by Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton (pictured l.), with science journalist Patchen Barss. Gail Ross at WME represented Hinton, and Robin Straus, who has an eponymous agency, repped Barss. The book sees the “godfather of AI” outline the threats AI “poses to work, democracy, security, and shared truth, and what governments, companies, and citizens must do now to ensure humanity can survive—and thrive—in a world where it is no longer the planet’s apex intelligence,” per the publisher. Rights also sold in Canada, the U.K., China, France, Hungary, Korea, Spain, Japan, Italy, and Taiwan. A March 2027 release is set.

(photo: Christopher Michel)

April Osborn at Hanover Square bought world rights to The Letters I Never Sent by content creator Davide De Pierro from Joe Veltre at Gersh. The debut novel by De Pierro, who has more than six million followers across TikTok and Instagram, sees a New York City man “reminisce about the past loves that shaped him” as he sifts through “cherished memories while seeking to understand the true meaning of love,” per the publisher. John Glynn will edit. A December publication is planned.

Stephanie Stein at Tor acquired, in a two-book deal, North American rights to Grace D. Li’s You Bring Death to Our Shores from Kate Testerman at KT Literary. The publisher called the novel “an epic told in two timelines, the Trojan War and the Greek afterlife, where Helen of Troy wakes in Elysium to find the heroes who died in her war are doomed—whether by fate or old grudges—to repeat the same familiar story, until they can at last let go of the past.” Release is scheduled for fall 2027.

Lisa Yoskowitz at Requited picked up, at auction, North American rights to the Heart-string Duet by Liv Zander, comprising Crown Me Dead and Crown Me Yours, from Pete Knapp and Stuti Telidevara at Park, Fine & Brower Literary Management. The previously self-published dark romantasy novels “follow a gravedigger’s daughter who vows to seduce the sickly king and sacrifice herself in order to break the curse that has brought plague to the realm, only to find herself entangled in a deeper conspiracy at the very heart of the kingdom,” according to the publisher. Both books are scheduled to publish in fall.

Kathy Pories at Algonquin netted world rights to three-time O. Henry Prize winner Michael Parker’s Objects in the Mirror from Joy Harris, who has an eponymous agency. The memoir chronicles Parker’s experience entering a treatment center at age 60 “after decades of struggling with exercise addiction and anorexia,” while also examining a “culture that encourages looksmaxxing and the failure of healthcare to diagnose and treat the 25% of anorexics who are male,” per the publisher. Release is slated for winter 2028.

In Brief

• Christen Karniski at Bloomsbury Academic acquired world rights to Cultivating Natural Intelligence: How to Raise Capable, Creative Kids in the Age of Screens and AI by author, artist, and CSU Monterey Bay professor Enid Baxter Ryce, from Liz Nealon at Great Dog Literary, for a September 2027 publication.

• Christine Bendorf at Keeperton picked up world English rights to Avi Rani’s four-book contemporary romance series Legacies, about an Indian American college student living a double life, from Kimberly Brower at Park, Fine & Brower Literary Management. The first title in the series, Poisoned Ivy, is scheduled for a spring 2027 release, and the second, Gilded Lily, for fall 2027.

• Tara Tobler at And Other Stories netted world English rights to Lark by Manya Wilkinson, about a woman imprisoned in a society where it is illegal to grow old, from Polly Halladay-Jones at Georgina Capel Associates, for a March 2027 release.

• Sarah Murphy at Ecco landed North American rights, at auction, to The Price of Protein by Benjamin R. Siegel, a blend of history and reportage exploring the rise of protein and its manufactured abundance by Big Food, from Sarah Khalil at Calligraph for publication in 2030.