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Deal of the Week

'Fuck Hemingway!' Howard Stern’s Next to S&S
More than 20 years after the publication of Howard Stern’s Private Parts, which became the fastest-selling book in S&S’s history up to that point, publisher Jonathan Karp, along with senior editor Sean Manning, bought world rights from Don Buchwald at his eponymous agency for Howard Stern Comes Again, due out on May 14. Back in 1993, Stern’s first book sold out 250,000 copies in a couple of hours, prompting a second printing of 600,000 copies. The 10,000 people who showed up at his New York City Fifth Avenue B&N signing caused a traffic jam. “I’ve been waiting two years for this book to be finished,” Karp said. “It was well worth the wait. Howard Stern Comes Again is certain to be one of the most entertaining and widely read books of the year.” Stern, when asked to comment, offered, “Fuck Hemingway! I put my heart and soul into this book and could not be more proud of it.”

Pantheon Pays $400K for an Inside Look at a Cold War Drama in Congo
Pantheon’s Erroll McDonald paid $400,000 to win world rights in a seven-way auction for The Lumumba Plot by Foreign Affairs managing editor Stuart A. Reid. McDonald described the book as “a thrilling Cold War drama that addresses, for the first time to a general readership, how... the CIA, enabled by the UN, orchestrated the downfall of Congo’s democratically elected, Soviet-leaning prime minister for fear that he would become an African Fidel Castro, and replaced him with Joseph Mobutu, a vicious, pro-American autocrat.” Since his college days in the 1970s, McDonald has been fascinated by the murder of the prime minister, Patrice Émery Lumumba, in 1961 as “a continuation of Western imperialism by any means necessary.” Gail Ross at Ross Yoon brokered the deal.

Dutton Gets the Inside Scoop on Wham!
Louise Moore, managing director of PRH UK’s Michael Joseph imprint, and Jill Schwartzman, v-p, executive editor at Dutton, picked up world English rights to Wham! George & Me, a memoir by Andrew Ridgeley, bandmate and lifelong friend of late Wham! singer George Michael, from Tim Bates at Peters, Fraser + Dunlop. In October, the book will be published simultaneously in the U.K. and U.S. in hardcover, e-book, and audio. In it, the publisher said, Ridgeley recounts the triumphs and tribulations of Wham!, as well as his friendship with Michael, which was formed in boyhood and lasted until Michael died in 2016.

Blackstone Buys Six for Six Figures from Catherine Ryan Howard
In what the publisher calls “a major six-figure deal,” Blackstone’s Haila Williams picked up North American rights to six new titles by Catherine Ryan Howard from Jane Gregory for David Higham Associates, to be published in print, audio, and e-book formats. Howard’s debut, Distress Signal, was shortlisted for the Irish Crime Novel of the Year at the 2016 Irish Book Awards; her second, The Liar’s Girl, is an Edgar nominee in this year’s Best Novel category. The deal brings Howard’s total with Blackstone to 10 titles. “In this uncertain world, it is wonderful to have a publisher show such faith in the potential of an author,” Gregory said. hybrid of the narrative and practical, personal, and prescriptive writing,” in which McGraw chronicles what he called his “physical transformation” from poor health to physical and mental wellness.

Children's Deals Roundup
We’ve got a fresh new crop of children’s and YA deals this week, including a new novel from Asylum series author Madeleine Roux, a Stranger Things prequel from YA novelist Brenna Yovanoff, plus a Christmas picture book from the co-creators of the bestselling Sweet Pea & Friends series.

Habitat for Humanity CEO’s ‘Better Angels’ Finds Home at St. Martin’s
In October, St. Martin’s Essentials will publish Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World by Habitat for Humanity CEO Jonathan Reckford. Former president Jimmy Carter will provide the foreword. Macmillan executive v-p Will Schwalbe and St. Martin’s Essentials v-p, editorial director Joel Fotinos bought world rights from Amy Hughes of Dunow Carlson & Lerner.

Harper Says Hello to ‘Goodnight’ with Six Figures
In an exclusive submission, editor Erin Wicks at Harper laid down six figures for Julia Fine’s second novel, Goodnight Nobody, described by the publisher as a “postpartum poltergeist story in which a new mother is haunted by the ghosts of quixotic children’s book writer Margaret Wise Brown and her lover.” Fine’s first novel, 2018’s What Should Be Wild, was shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Superior First Novel Award and the Chicago Review of Books Award, and was chosen for the B&N Discover Great New Writers program. Stephanie Delman at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates negotiated the deal for North American rights.

George Soros’s ‘Defense’ to Public Affairs
Peter Osnos and John Mahaney at Public Affairs bought world rights for George Soros’s newest book, In Defense of Open Society, described by the publisher as “an impassioned and urgent defense of Soros’s core belief in open society at a time when [the idea] faces sustained attacks from the far right, nationalists, and anti-Semites around the world.” The deal was unagented.

Behind the Deal

On June 4, Abrams Press will publish Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly by Jim DeRogatis, music journalist and cohost of the nationally syndicated radio talk show Sound Opinions, who broke the story of sexual abuse allegations against the R&B star almost 20 years ago. Executive editor Jamison Stoltz acquired world English rights from Monika Woods of Curtis Brown Ltd. In 2000, DeRogatis received an anonymous fax alleging that Kelly had “a problem with young girls.” When DeRogatis published the results of his investigation, which included allegations that the singer sexually abused and paid off girls, he fully expected that Kelly’s career would be negatively impacted. But instead Kelly flourished—and DeRogatis kept investigating. In the wake of the TV documentary Surviving R. Kelly, which began airing on January 1, Kelly has come under intense scrutiny, which prompted RCA to sever its relationship with him and led to his indictment last month on 10 counts of sexual abuse. Tarana Burke, the founder of the #MeToo movement, said, “There really isn’t anyone more qualified to write about the saga of R. Kelly than Jim DeRogatis. Jim has done the work. He’s built the relationships. He’s cared about the outcome for almost two decades.”

International

• Agent Madeleine Milburn struck gold for her eponymous agency at the London Book Fair with The Recovery of Rose Gold,, a debut from Emerson MFA graduate Stephanie Wrobel. Berkley executive editor Amanda Bergeron bought U.S. rights in a preempt; Maxine Hitchcock, publishing director at PRH UK’s Michael Joseph imprint, won an eight-way auction for U.K. rights; and Nina Pronovost preempted rights for S&S Canada. Elsewhere, German publisher Ullstien offered a six-figure preempt and Hungarian publisher Alexandra preempted.

Page to Screen

• Deadline announced that Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) and Hyde Park Entertainment principal Ashok Amritraj will adapt First Second’s graphic novel Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani as a CG-animated musical for Netflix. In it, Priyanka, a first-generation American of Indian descent, explores her family history with a magical pashmina.

• Two Can Keep a Secret, Karen M. McManus’s follow up to her hit novel One of Us Is Lying, has been optioned for feature development by Erik Feig’s PictureStart, with John Sacchi and Matt Groesch’s 5 More Minutes Productions also set to produce. The deal was brokered on behalf of the author by Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary Studio and Jason Dravis of his own agency.

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Deal of the Week

Anne Hathaway Touts 'Liberation'
Just in time for the London Book Fair, Little, Brown UK scooped up world rights to Liberation, a thriller by Imogen Kealy (a pseudonym for screenwriter Darby Kealy and author Imogen Robertson), that will be adapted into a film based on Kealy’s script, produced by and starring Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway. Sphere will publish it in the U.K.; Grand Central will publish it in the U.S. Due in spring 2020, the novel, based on real events, follows WWII hero Nancy Wake, who trains with the Special Operations Executive in Britain after her husband is captured by the Gestapo. She then parachutes into France to search for him. Hathaway called Nancy Wake “larger than life in every way,” adding, “In a world that is hungry for more inclusive stories, it’s time for Nancy’s to be told.” The deal was negotiated by Broo Doherty at DHH Literary Agency on behalf of Robertson and Rachel Clements at Abner Stein on behalf of CAA for Darby Kealey. Sphere editorial director Ed Wood reports that Italian rights were sold in a high-five-figure-deal preempt six hours after submission.

André Leon Talley Catwalks to Ballantine
André Leon Talley, the former creative director of Vogue, host of his own Sirius Radio program, and the subject of the documentary The Gospel According to André, has penned a second memoir, The Chiffon Trenches. Ballantine executive editor Pamela Cannon picked up North American and open market rights from David Vigliano of AGI Vigliano. Talley continues his story from his 2003 bestseller, ALT: A Memoir, revealing more about his life behind the scenes at Vogue and his early years in fashion.

Centrello Nabs Nosrat’s Next
In a preempt, Random House president Gina Centrello snagged world rights (excluding U.K.) to Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat author Samin Nosrat’s What to Cook, a continuation of her collaboration with artist and New York Times visual columnist Wendy McNaughton. Centrello called the author a visionary and a gifted writer, adding, “We believe strongly in Samin’s philosophy that food is a powerful force for connecting people and bringing them together at the table.” Andy Ward will edit the book, which the publisher said “promises to help readers navigate the unique set of considerations that all cooks face each time they enter the kitchen: time, ingredients, resources, and preferences.” Nosrat said she “wrote Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat to teach readers how to cook,” noting that, next, she wants to “illuminate for home cooks how chefs take stock of their surroundings and resources every time they enter the kitchen.” Nosrat was represented by Kari Stuart at ICM; McNaughton was represented by Charlotte Sheedy,who has her own agency.

Harper Wave Sings for Tim McGraw
Harper Wave v-p and editorial director Julie Will bought world rights to music and film star Tim McGraw’s Grit & Grace from CAA. Will described Grit & Grace as “a celebrity lifestyle book that is a hybrid of the narrative and practical, personal, and prescriptive writing,” in which McGraw chronicles what he called his “physical transformation” from poor health to physical and mental wellness.

Children's Deals Roundup
We’ve got a big new crop of deals for children and teens, including a debut novel by Men's Health deputy digital editor Jordyn Taylor, a middle grade novel from literary agent John Cusick, a debut picture book by New Yorker artist Tom Gauld, and many more!

Mayhew Scores with Maraniss
Alice Mayhew v-p and editorial director of Simon & Schuster, signed a deal with ICM’s Rafe Sagely for U.K., Canadian, and open market rights for Thorpe, a biography of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss, the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of When Pride Still Mattered, a biography of Vince Lombardi. Thorpe was a multitalented sports legend who played professional baseball and was the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal. But he is best known for his gridiron greatness. “There is a direct line from Vince Lombardi to Jim Thorpe,” Maraniss said. “Lombardi was a larger-than-life figure who made pro football the American obsession. Thorpe was central in the foundation myth of the sport itself.”

Ripped Bodice Co-owner Pens 'Pop Feminist History'
Be a Koch, co-owner of the Ripped Bodice, a romance bookstore, signed a deal for Real Housewives of the Regency with editor Maddie Caldwell at Grand Central Publishing. Holly Root, who has an eponymous shingle, represented the author. In what the publisher called a “pop feminist history,” Koch highlights iconoclastic women of Regency England—such as Dido Elizabeth Belle, who was born a slave, and Anne Lister, who lived with her common-law wife—to offer new perspectives on the heretofore white, Christian image of the period immortalized by such writers as Jane Austen and Lord Byron.

Behind the Deal

Atria v-p and executive editor Trish Todd won an 11-house auction for Janet Skeslien Charles’s The Paris Library, a novel based on the real librarians of the American Library in Paris and the work they did to preserve the library’s collection during WWII. Heather Jackson, who has an eponymous agency, brokered the deal for U.S., Canada, and open market rights, including audio and first serial. Hodder’s Two Roads imprint will publish the book in the U.K., and rights have sold in six other countries. The book is scheduled for summer 2020, the bicentennial of the library, the largest English-language library in continental Europe, which has 4,000 members from 60 countries. Among its early members were Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein. Henry Miller and Colette gave readings there, and recent speakers have included Ta-Nehisi Coates, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Jacqueline Woodson. Set in Montana in 1983 and Paris in 1939, the tale centers on a war widow, Odile Souchet, and Lily, a lonely teenager who is fascinated by the older French woman and longs to know her secrets. The Paris Library, Todd said, “has the most potential of any novel I’ve read in a long time.”

CORRECTION: In last week's Behind the Deal, the name of the acquiring editor at Overlook for Ava Homa's Warrior Butterflies was misspelled. The correct spelling is Chelsea Cutchens.

International

• The Bookseller reports that Vintage imprint Chatto & Windus won a five-way U.K. auction for The Quartet by Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman, a biography of four philosophers, including Iris Murdoch. Clara Farmer and Becky Hardie acquired U.K. and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Zoë Waldie at RCW. Executive editor Kris Puopolo acquired North American rights from Melanie Jackson, on behalf of Waldie, for Doubleday.

Page to Screen

• Charlize Theron will star in an adaptation of Greg Rucka’s comic book series the Old Guard for Netflix. David Hale Smith at InkWell Management and Allison Binder of Stone, Genow, Smelkinson, Binder & Christopher negotiated the deal.

• Berkley editorial director Cindy Hwang snagged, at auction, North American rights to Carole Stivers’s science fiction debut, The Mother Code, already optioned by Steven Spielberg’s studio, Amblin Entertainment. Stivers was repped by Elisabeth Weed at the Book Group.

• Imagine Entertainment’s newly launched Imagine Entertainment’s newly launched Imagine Kids and Family division will develop five titles from several series from the Jimmy Patterson imprint at Little, Brown, according to Variety. Executive producers include Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.