Canongate buys Simon's Cat
<p>Canongate has won "a fierce auction" for the world rights to two illustrated books by Simon's Cat animator Simon Tofield.</p><p>Tofield's creations have reached a wide audience over the last few months, drawing more than 20m hits on YouTube and winning a number of awards, including Best Comedy at the British Animation Awards and the YouTube's Blockbuster Award. The animations–simple line drawings in black and white—depict the ever-hungry Simon's Cat in various attempts to get his owner to feed him.</p><p>Editorial director Nick Davies struck the deal with Robert Kirby and Duncan Hayes at United Agents, beating off competition from Little, Brown, Hodder, Penguin and Headline.</p><p>Davies said: "Like the best projects, Simon's Cat was a word-of-mouth hit from day one. People found it on YouTube, loved it, and forwarded it on. The humour is refreshingly innocent which gives the characters the broadest possible appeal. I think we have a major new comic creation here—something to rival <em>The Bunny Suicides</em>, Purple Ronnie, and maybe even one day, Wallace<br />and Gromit."</p><p>The as-yet-untitled first book will be published as a gift format in hardback at the end of this year. The second book will be published for Christmas 2010. </p><p>According to Canongate, the pair of agents "have already started talking to a number of film, television and merchandising companies about the Simon's Cat brand".</p><p>The publisher will be auctioning foreign rights at the London Book Fair in April, despite already having received "interest from a number of international publishers".</p>