A memoir from Elton John and a graphic novel from Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent are among the hottest as-yet-unsigned properties from UK agents heading into the Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF).

Elton has decided to tell “the full story of his life and extraordinary career with exceptional candor and wit”, acccording his representatives, The Wylie Agency. Elton’s book will undoubtedly be the hottest non-fiction property on submission this FBF. It perhaps will not approach Amy Schumer numbers in the run-in to FBF 2015—when S&S US may have paid as much as $10m for North American rights alone to the comedian’s memoir—but the advance will certainly eclipse seven figures. Elton’s principal agent is Wylie founder Andrew Wylie.

Elton previously published an autobiographical title, "Love is the Cure" (Hodder), in 2012. That book was narrowly focused on the pop star’s experiences of losing friends to AIDS during the height of the disease’s epidemic. It did not set the charts on fire, however, shifting just 2,800 units through Nielsen BookScan.

Several attention-grabbing big deals have already been struck ahead of Frankfurt Book Fair, which begins on October 19, 2016. George Osborne’s "The Age of Unreason" by the Rt. Hon George Osborne MP was snapped up by William Collins this week, while in fiction, the much talked-about "The Chalk Man" by C J Tudor went to Michael Joseph after a nine-way auction, Hutchinson pre-empted Swan Song in a six-figure deal and Picador won "Dear Mrs Bird" after a seven-way auction.

The full UK agents' hotlists are featured in the October 7, 2016 print edition of The Bookseller magazine.

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