This month’s roundup features a little something for everyone – an auditory adventure around the world, a new voice in Scandinavian crime novels, and something practical to help readers make the most of their everyday life.

Rights people gathering at the networking reception of the Frankfurt Rights Meeting, October 2025; Image: Johannes Minkus

By Erin L. Cox, Publisher | @erinlcox

Welcome to the Rights Roundup for December 12, our final for the year. As we wrap up 2025, we want to highlight some interesting titles that have been submitted to us for feature as well as highlighting two of our partners.

Frankfurt Rights is the leading fully transactional rights and licensing marketplace available within the publishing industry. The online platform enables rights holders to complete domestic and international licensing deals. Rights listings on the Frankfurt Rights platform have been viewed by rights buyers in 128 countries.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award, one of the Arab world’s most prestigious prizes, offers a translation grant. Funding is available for translation of all literary and children’s titles that have won or have been shortlisted for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. To view those titles and current rights available, please check out the rights guide.

The Publishing Perspectives Rights Roundup features books supplied to us by agents and rights directors. If you’d like to submit a deal to Publishing Perspectives, see the instructions at the end of this article.

Atlas of Remote Sounds (Atlas de Sonidos Remotos)
By Victor Terrazas, illustrated by Gonzalez Macias

Publisher: Ediciones Menguantes
Rights contact: Marina Penalva, from Casanovas & Lynch
Book info: Read more here

Reported rights sales :

Newest: Ukrainian – Dakor
Polish – Wielka Litera
Czech – Pole 65

There are melodies with specific geographical resonances. Atlas de Sonidos Remotos is a journey where music and maps meet: Einaudi on an iceberg, Saharan blues, interstellar signals, volcanic songs, ABBA’s ghost town, cave melodies, Hawaiian echoes for Elvis, Arctic archives, Sámi yoiks behind Björk, punk from the world’s coldest city. It reveals how arbitrary borders are—and how connected we are. With stunning maps & illustrations by González Macías (author of A Brief Atlas of the Lighthouses at the End of the World) and an accompanying soundtrack.

The land, the climate, the rituals and customs leave their mark in the form of songs. Atlas of Remote Sounds is an adventure in search of those distant, exotic, or strangely familiar sounds capable of moving us.

Hildur
By Satu Rämö

Publisher: WSOY
Rights contact: Sten-Erik Tammemäe, Bonnier Rights Finland
Book info: Read more here

Reported rights sales :

Newest: Slovenia: Mladinska Knjiga
Bulgaria: Perseus / Croatia: Znanje / Czechia: HarperCollins Czech / Denmark: Gutkind / Estonia: Eesti Raamat; France: Le Seuil / Germany: Heyne / Greece: Memento /Hungary: Animus / Iceland: Forlagid / Israel: Yedioth / Italy: Newton Compton / Japan: Sogensha / Latvia: Zvaigzne ABC /Lithuania: Obuolys / Netherlands: Ambo|Anthos / Norway: Bonnier Norsk / Poland: HarperCollins Polska / Portugal: Cultura; Serbia: Laguna / Slovakia: Ikar / Sweden: Bokförlaget Forum / UK & Commonwealth ex. Canada: Bonnier Zaffre / Ukraine: Laboratory / World Spanish: Salamandra/Penguin Random House

With a unique blend of Finnish and Icelandic sensibility, Hildur launches a new voice in the Nordic Noir tradition with a pinch of folkloric mysticism that is a must-read for fans of Maria Adolfsson’s Doggerland series or Arnaldur Indriðason’s atmospheric Erlendur series.

Everyone does their best to survive in the fjords of Iceland. Hildur Rúnarsdóttir is no different as she surfs in the icy ocean waters to try and forget her childhood and the burden of her cases as head of the missing children’s unit of Ísafjörður police. When Finnish police trainee Jakob Johanson arrives in Iceland, he realizes that the fjords harbor a dark side. Hildur and Jakob find themselves investigating a tangle of crimes as decades-long secrets come to light.

A Day in the Life of the Brain. How to Make Smarter Use of Your Brain in Everyday Life (Wer Denkt Ist Klar Im Vorteil)

By Bent Freiwald

Publisher: Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch
Rights contact: Mona Pfletschinger, Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch
Book info: Read more here

Reported rights sales:

Newest: Spain: Obelisco
Brazil: Pensamento / China: CITIC Press / Greece: Patakis / Korea: RH Korea / Romania: PUBLICA / Turkey: KURALDISI

Following the course of a perfectly ordinary day, brain expert and science journalist Bent Freiwald explains the incredible feats the human brain performs on a daily basis – and how you can apply that knowledge to become more disciplined, eat healthier, trust your gut, or move on from a breakup. His goal: to entertain without oversimplifying.

Freiwald helps you understand yourself and your body to better manage everyday life. For readers of Giulia Enders, James Clear and Matthew Walker.

Submitting Rights Deals to Publishing Perspectives

Do you have rights deals to report? Agents and rights directors can use our rights deal submission form to send us information about their books for consideration. For questions or to inquire about the cost of guaranteeing we feature your book, email Erin Cox at erin@publishingperspectives.com.

We look forward to hearing from you.

More of Publishing Perspectives‘ rights roundups are here, and more from us on international rights trading is here.

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About the Author

Erin L. Cox

Erin L. Cox is the Publisher of Publishing Perspectives. She has spent more than 25 years on the business development and promotional side of the publishing industry, working in book publicity at Scribner and HarperCollins, advertising sales and marketing at The New Yorker, and consulting with publishers, literary organizations, book fairs, writers, and technology companies serving the publishing industry. Cox is also the Publisher of Words & Money, a new media site focused on centering libraries in the publishing conversation.