Oh, Kay! Territories fall for middle-grade anatomy title

Penguin Random House Children’s has sold Adam Kay’s first children’s book into four territories in just two “remote working” weeks.

The junior doctor-turned-bestselling author’s Kay’s Anatomy, a “hilarious and educational” tour of the human body for middle-grade readers, has been snapped up by Armchair Books (Israel), Arthouse (Finland), SC Publica (Romania) and Nakladatelstvi Jota (Czech Republic) with PRH saying “many more are in the pipeline”.    

PRH Children’s head of rights for new business Anne Bowman said: “The opportunity to bring the bestselling Adam Kay to the younger generation is a dream come true. This is Going to Hurt was translated into an incredible 37 languages and with this more general topic, aimed at a new audience, we hope to place his books with even more publishers globally.”

World rights for Kay’s book were originally acquired by Holly Harris, editorial director for Puffin, from Cathyrn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown. 

Kay’s This is Going to Hurt and Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas have shifted 1.6 million units for £10.2m through Nielsen BookScan for Picador. Kay recently followed his former Picador editor Francesca Main to Orion for a “substantial seven-figure” two-book deal.