Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired world English language rights to two YA horror novels by Margot McGovern, in a deal brokered by Danielle Binks at Jacinta di Mase Management.

PRH publisher Rebecca McRitchie, who acquired the novels, said: “Horror is a growing market and we’re very happy to continue publishing our award-winning local talent in this space – Margot McGovern.”

The first title, Bright Offerings, is an “upper-YA folk horror” aimed at readers aged 15+ and set in a small town where a cult-like community turns on those who threaten to expose the truth about its “monstrous secret”. “Following a terrifying witch hunt, the novel explores survival, belonging, community division and the treatment of outsiders,” said PRH.

McGovern’s debut novel, Neverland, was shortlisted for the Text Prize and the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. Her novel This Stays Between Us won the inaugural John Marsden Prize for Writing for Young Adults in the 2026 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and won the Shadow Judging Award for Older Readers in the CBCA Awards. It was also a finalist in the Aurealis Awards, the ITW Thriller Awards and the Australasian Shadows Awards. McGovern lives on Kaurna Country/Adelaide and holds a creative writing PhD from Flinders University.

McGovern’s novel Our Dark Unravelling will also be published by PRH in September 2026.

Said the author: “It’s exciting to see a growing appetite for home-grown horror, and I’m absolutely thrilled to have two new horror novels on the way with Penguin Random House Australia.”

PRH plans to publish Bright Offerings in the second half of 2027, with the as-yet-untitled second YA horror novel to follow in 2028.