What a year it’s been so far for Pontas authors! Before our annual break we're looking back at some of the books that were published during the first half of 2025 to continue to celebrate them.
Acclaimed Spanish author Susana Fortes started the year off with her new novel Just One More Day (Sólo un día más), published by Espasa/Planeta in the original Spanish. The novel is inspired by the legendary love story between Albert Camus and María Casares. Italian rights have been acquired by Astoria, and all other translation and audiovisual rights are currently available. Debut author Sama Helalli, who grew up in Spain but is now based in France, followed in February with her first novel, Operation Kerman (Operación Kerman), an action-packed women-led adventure thriller, which was published by Roca/PRH in the original Spanish. It had previously been released by Audible as an audiobook and audiovisual rights have been option by a UK-based producer. All translation rights are currently available.
In March, Ethiopian-born Catalan author Ennatu Domingo returned to bookstores with a new book of narrative non-fiction in the original Catalan, A un costat i a l'altre del mirall (On Both Sides of the Mirror), published by Navona. The Spanish translation was released simultaneously, also by Navona. All translation rights are currently available. Across the Atlantic, Mexican author Verónica Llaca also had a new novel out, What the River Knows, (Lo que el río sabe), published by Planeta. What the River Knows is a gripping psychological thriller that explores the lasting impact of trauma and the power of redemption. All translation and audiovisual rights are currently available.
Although she didn't publish a new novel during the start of 2025, mystic noir bestselling Spanish author Dolores Redondo did see a few translations of her work out in the world. In March, btb/PRH in Germany published the German translation of her 2022 novel Esperando al diluvio (Awaiting the Flood), under the title Wenn das Wasser steigt. In Spain, Redondo's newest novel, Las que no duermen NASH (Those Who Don't Sleep NASH), published by Destino/Planeta in November 2024, was translated into Basque language and published on July 1st by Erein with a stunning cover. Las que no duermen NASH (Those Who Don't Sleep NASH) has sold almost 250,000 copies in Spanish alone since publication. Click here to check rights sold.
Speaking of crime novels, Tanzanian-American author Clea Koff published the second installment in her Jayne Hall and Steelie Lander series, Deadly Evidence, in the UK and the US with Avon/HarperCollins in April, and Brighton-based British mystery writer Jill Johnson, published the third installment in the Professor Eustacia Rose series, Bella Donna, in late May by Black & White Publishing, also in the UK. The previous installment in the series, Hell's Bells, will be published in the US by Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks under the title The Poison Grove in late August 2025.
Winner of the Pontas & JJ Bola Emerging Writers Prize Bhavika Govil's accomplished debut Hot Water was published in India in April by Fourth Estate/HarperCollins India. Hot Water is a three-voice coming-of-age contemporary story examining childhood and motherhood, sibling love and secrets, desire and grief, and it has been longlisted for the Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman 2025 Award in the Best Debut category. French rights were snapped up in a pre-empt by Editions de la Martinière in a two-book deal, and all other translation and audiovisual rights are available.
The last Spanish-language titles of this first half of 2025 were penned by Peruvian author Gustavo Rodríguez and Spanish author Carmen Santos. Gustavo Rodríguez, who won the 2023 Alfaguara Novel Prize for his novel One Hundred Guinea Pigs (Cien Cuyes), which will be out in English with Charco Press in 2026, published a new novel in April with Alfaguara/PRH, which is available in all Spanish-speaking territories. This new novel, Mamita, was inspired by the extraordinary story of his grandparents and mother, whose roots trace back to the early 20th century in the Peruvian Amazon and to a dark chapter in the country's history: the Putumayo genocide. Carmen Santos, on the other hand, published her new novel in May with Contraluz/Anaya, Echoes of Yesterday (Los ecos del ayer), a lively and entertaining novel, the author's signature style, that moves between past and present, following one family’s destiny and the same family’s curse as past secrets come to light. The audiobook was produced and published by Recorded Books. All translation and audiovisual rights for both titles are available.
In June, Ayotola Tehingbola’s short story collection, Lagos Will be Hard for You, was published by Masobe Books in Nigeria. UK rights have since been snapped up by Jacaranda, in a two-book-deal, for publication in 2026. The collection was a finalist for the 2024 Restless Books New Immigrant Writing Prize in Fiction. These stories are an excavation of what it means to be at the labyrinthine crossroads of desire, ambition, and tradition and all translation and audiovisual rights are available.
Last but not least, the latest title by a Pontas author to hit bookstores has been the critically-acclaimed debut by Marcia Hutchinson, The Mercy Step, published in the UK by Cassava Republic Press. The author was selected as on of The Observer's Best New Novelists for 2025. About the novel, Observer critic Kadish Morris said that it was "dark, humorous, and passionately captures the unique realities of the northern Black experience. Powerfully told from a child’s vantage point, the storytelling is imaginative and animated, yet piercing in all the right places." All translation and audiovisual rights are currently available.
For more information about any of the above novels, please contact Anna Soler-Pont (anna@pontas-agency.com).