A report in the "Sydney Morning Herald" reveals that "December Boys, based on a 1963 novel by Australian author Michael Noonan, is to be the first post-Harry Potter project for British actor Daniel Radcliffe." As you might expect, this has provoked some determined bidding for the publishing rights for the original novel.
All well and good, you might say. But there's a problem. Noonan died in 2000, and, while he married Jan Pearce in 1993, she has yet to be contacted as she is on holidays. Added to that his former lietrary agency sold out in the 1990s and there is a feeling that Noonan may have left the publishing rights to his works to someone other than Pearce. Ah, the joys of copyright.
[Update: seems my user registration for SMH has been splatted. I'll get the link in later today hopefully.]
