Rights market momentum

Foreign-rights deals are still moving weeks after London and Bologna, with award-listed books leading the spring market. (publishingperspectives.com) Publishing Perspectives’ April 24 rights roundup says publishers are focused on books that can “appeal to any audience, anywhere” after the London Book Fair and the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. The roundup is built from submissions by agents and rights directors, making it a snapshot of what sellers are actively pushing across territories. (publishingperspectives.com) One of the titles in circulation is *The Nights Are Quiet in Teheran* by Shida Bazyar, which the roundup identifies as shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize. The Booker Prize Foundation published that six-book shortlist on March 31, 2026, with Ruth Martin credited as translator from German. (publishingperspectives.com) (thebookerprizes.com) The rights list around Bazyar’s novel shows why prize attention matters to dealmakers. Publishing Perspectives says the book already has sales into Brazil, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, Arabic-language rights, world English rights with Scribe, and Ukrainian rights under negotiation. (publishingperspectives.com) That pattern is the core business of rights trading: one publisher acquires the license to publish a book in one language or territory, while other publishers buy separate editions for their own markets. London and Bologna are two of the industry’s biggest meeting points for those negotiations, and both fairs put rights and licensing at the center of their sales pitch. (londonbookfair.co.uk) (bolognaconventionbureau.it) The spring fairs supplied the volume behind that momentum. Publishers Weekly reported that the London Book Fair drew more than 33,000 visitors and 1,005 exhibitors in March, while Publishing Perspectives reported that Bologna drew 32,652 professional visitors, with 1,540 exhibitors from more than 90 countries and regions from April 13 to 16. (publishersweekly.com) (publishingperspectives.com) The April roundup also shows that awards are only one route into the market. It pairs Bazyar’s shortlisted novel with *A Lovely Little Planet*, a Turkish children’s title featured on the 2026 BolognaRagazzi Amazing Bookshelf, and Giorgio Scerbanenco’s Duca Lamberti crime series, which added a new world-Spanish deal with Salamandra. (publishingperspectives.com) This month’s list follows the same fair-to-deal cadence as earlier 2026 roundups. In late March, Publishing Perspectives tied rights activity directly to London’s “busy and buzzy” mood and cited The Bookseller’s report that U.S. publishers were “splashing serious cash,” especially on solutions-based nonfiction and escapist fiction. (publishingperspectives.com) The durable part of fair season is not the foot traffic but the afterlife of those meetings in contracts, auctions, and territory-by-territory sales. April’s roundup reads like that afterlife in real time: prize books, children’s books, and backlist crime are still crossing borders after the stands came down. (publishingperspectives.com)