Friday, May 29, 2015

NZ publisher wins auction for acclaimed picture book


New Zealand publisher, Book Island has landed rights in the acclaimed picture book The Lion and The Bird by French-Canadian writer and illustrator, Marianne Dubuc.

The Lion and The Bird (originally titled Le lion et l’oiseau) has won rave reviews and sold over 20,000 copies since its US publication last year. The Wall Street Journal describes the picture book as poignant and uplifting. Publisher’s Weekly calls it a “remarkably moving and deeply human story” about a lion who wears dungarees and his friendship with a bird with a broken wing. Boasting beautiful and tender illustrations, the picture book is aimed at young readers aged 4 plus. http://www.bookisland.co.nz/en/books/lion-and-bird.

Rights have been sold in 15 countries so far, with English-language rights in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Ireland and Europe acquired by Book Island from Dubuc’s agent, Veronique Kirchhoff.

Book Island publisher, Greet Pauwelijn said: “Every year at Bologna there is one title I fall in love with, and this year, it was The Lion and The Bird. It’s a great honour to be given the rights to this title.”

The Lion and The Bird joins Pauwelijn’s growing list of carefully selected and beautifully designed children’s picture books from all over the world.


Book Island will publish The Lion and The Bird in hardback in October 2015.

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