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Deal of the Week

Dorman Edges Competition for ‘Push’
For her eponymous imprint at Penguin Random House, Pamela Dorman nabbed U.S. rights to a sought-after debut novel in a rumored seven-figure deal. Ashley Audrain’s The Push, which also sold for significant sums in the U.K. (to Michael Joseph) and Canada (to Penguin Canada), is set for a simultaneous U.S./U.K./Canada publication in early 2021. Audrain is a former publicity director at Penguin Books Canada, and her novel is being touted by Pamela Dorman Books as “a tense, page-turning psychological” work that recalls such novels as We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Perfect Nanny. Adding to the burgeoning cache of domestic fiction that examines motherhood through a horror-suffused lens, the novel, Dorman said in a release, is “a story about mothers and their children, and about how an unspeakable act can reverberate and change the lives around us forever.” Madeleine Milburn at Madeleine Milburn Literary, who represented the author in the two-book deal, said that the novel has quickly become “an international sensation” and that, at press time, 23 foreign sales had closed.

HarperTeen Boards Wen’s ‘Loveboat’
After a six-house auction, HarperTeen’s Kristen Pettit won North American rights, for high six figures, to Abigail Hing Wen’s debut novel Loveboat, Taipei! Describing the book as “a YA Crazy Rich Asians meets a Jane Austen comedy of manners,” HarperTeen said it follows an 18-year-old Ohioan who is shipped off to Taiwan by her strict parents to study Mandarin for the summer. She finds, though, that the program is actually “an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat.” Wen works as an attorney in Silicon Valley; she was represented in the two-book deal by Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary & Media.

Lemmie’s ‘Rain’ Hits Dutton
Dutton’s Stephanie Kelly bought North American rights, at auction, to Asha Lemmie’s debut novel, Fifty Words for Rain. The book, Dutton said, follows “the illegitimate daughter of a Japanese noblewoman and an African-American GI, growing up in post-WWII American-occupied Japan.” Rebecca Scherer at the Jane Rotrosen Agency brokered the agreement.

Hocherman Nabs Rodriguez’s ‘Worm’
Cuban-American artist Edel Rodriguez sold a graphic memoir, at auction, to Riva Hocherman at Metropolitan Books. Hocherman took North American rights, for six figures, to Worm from agent Holly McGhee at Pippin Properties. The book, which is slated for 2021, chronicles, McGhee said, “the migration of Rodriguez’s family under horrific conditions on the Mariel boatlift.”

Children's Deals Roundup
New projects this week include a picture book by Amanda Gorman, the country’s inaugural Youth Poet Laureate, bought in an eight-house auction; a debut middle grade novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Honor recipient Deb Caletti; and a debut picture book by Karamo Brown, the culture expert on Netflix's Emmy Award-winning Queer Eye series, co-written with his son Jason.

Chetwynd Re-ups at McMeel
On the heels of the success of her debut, Little Moments of Love, author-illustrator Catana Chetwynd sold her sophomore comics collection, Snug, to her current publisher, Andrews McMeel. Patty Rice took world English rights to the book from Kathleen Ortiz at New Leaf Literary & Media. Ortiz said Little Moments of Love, which was released in 2018, has sold more than 215,000 copies. Snug is set for February 2020.

PUP Pays for Book on Earnings Gap
Joe Jackson at Princeton University Press has stumped up six figures for a book about the gender pay gap by a Harvard economist. Claudia Goldin’s A Long Road sold in a world rights deal brokered by Jill Kneerim and Lucy V. Cleland at Kneerim & Williams and will, PUP said, offer “a fresh understanding of one of the most intractable problems in today’s economy—the gender earnings gap—by exploring five distinct groups of women of modern history who collectively trace how we got here, and why.” PUP added that the book, subtitled The Quest for Career and Family, “debunks long-held presumptions and inadequate theories by accurately diagnosing why a large fraction of highly talented women still cannot achieve both an equitable family life and a successful career.”

Dunbar’s Tubman Bio to 37Ink
At 37Ink, Dawn Davis took world rights to an illustrated biography of Harriet Tubman titled She Came to Slay by Erica Armstrong Dunbar. The author, a National Book Award finalist, was represented by Laura Dail, who has an eponymous shingle. Dail said the book explores lesser-known aspects of Tubman’s life and legacy, such as “her successes as a spy for the Union in the Civil War and her involvement in the suffrage movement.” The book was commissioned by Davis and is slated for November.

‘Farmer’s Lawyer’ Argues for B’bury
At auction, Bloomsbury’s Anton Mueller took world English rights to Sarah Vogel’s memoir, The Farmer’s Lawyer. The book, which Mackenzie Brady Watson at Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency sold, is about the 1983 class action that the author took on, defending, Bloomsbury said, “240,000 farmers against the threat of foreclosure at the hands of the U.S. government.” Vogel, an attorney based in North Dakota, is the first woman elected a state commissioner of agriculture.

International

• The Serbian debut novel Uhvati zeca (Catch the Rabbit) has been acquired by Germany’s Fischer Verlag after a string of international sales (with deals having closed in, among other territories, Hungary, Italy, and Spain). Spain’s Salmaia-Lit is handling foreign sales for Lana Bastašic´’s book, which it said is “about two Bosnian young women and their complicated friendship.”

• In the U.K., Orion Fiction acquired a historical novel about Oliver Cromwell’s youngest daughter by Miranda Malins. The Bookseller, citing a release from the publisher, said The Puritan Princess is about “the struggles of power, feminism, and hope for a better future against the backdrop of a warring country.”

Page to Screen

• Howard Bryant’s The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism (Beacon, 2018) has been optioned for series adaptation. Maverick TV plans to turn the nonfiction title into a multipart docu-series.

• Andy McDermott’s Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase series (published by Headline in the U.K. and available in mass market in the U.S. from Bantam) has been optioned by Divine Rights Media. Deadline reported that the upstart production company is aiming to “hatch a franchise” based on the bestselling books.

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Deal of the Week

Scribner Pours into More Whiskey and History from Clay Risen
Clay Risen, deputy op-ed editor at the New York Times, spends his own writing life focusing on equal parts whiskey (American Whiskey, Bourbon and Rye) and American history (The Bill of the Century). In a rumored six-figure, two-book deal, Scribner executive editor Kathy Belden acquired North American rights to Red Scare and The Whiskey Barons, covering both of Risen’s interests. In the former, Risen focuses on America’s concern with communism from the end of World War I through 1957. The latter, the publisher said, is a story about “the epic clash of personalities in the Gilded Age between two business titans who battled for control of the whiskey industry.” Heather Schroder at Compass Talent brokered the deal.

Johns Hopkins Signs New Book by Seema Yasmin
Just six weeks after she brokered a six-figure deal for science journalist Seema Yasmin’s Muslim Women Do Things, Lilly Ghahremani of Full Circle Literary sold Yasmin’s The Handbook for Science Journalism (spring 2021) to Robin Coleman at Johns Hopkins University Press. In the book, Yasmin combats misinformation and addresses the editorial mandate to report both sides of a debate when one is patently false, citing debates surrounding climate change and vaccines as two examples. The book arrives at a perilous time for journalists—in Reporters Without Borders’ most recent listing, the U.S. ranks as one of the top five most dangerous places to be a journalist (due in part to the shooting deaths of five employees of the Capital Gazette in Maryland last year).

'Riverdale’ Star Takes Debut to Wednesday Books
Actress Asha Bromfield, who plays Melody Valentine on the CW show Riverdale, sold her debut YA novel to Wednesday Books. Sara Goodman bought North American rights to Hurricane Summer from Sabrina Giglio at William Morris Endeavor. Slated for spring 2021, the novel is set in Jamaica circa 2008, when Hurricane Gustav hit the island.

Gallery Grabs Next Three by Christina Lauren
Gallery senior editor Kate Dresser bought the 25th, 26th, and 27th books from Christina Lauren, a pseudonym of Lauren Billings (left) and Christina Hobbs (The Unhoneymooners), whom the publisher calls a “rom-com powerhouse author duo.” The Honey Don’t List, the first of the trio brokered by Holly Root at Root Literary, is due in spring 2020.

Children's Deals Roundup
New projects this week include a debut #OwnVoices YA novel by CNN special projects producer Mayra Cuevas (pictured), a middle-grade novel from Newbery Honor author Derrick Barnes, which tells the story of an African-American athlete-turned-activist; and a middle grade graphic biography of Bruce Lee by Jim Di Bartolo.

International

• The Bookseller announced that Alan Samson, publisher and chair of Weidenfeld & Nicolson, scooped up U.K. and Commonwealth rights to Julie Andrews’s new memoir, Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years. Cowritten with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, Home Work, due out October 15, picks up where her previous book, Home, left off.

• Laura Lindstedt became an instant literary darling in her native Finland when her 2007 debut novel, Oneiron, was nominated for the Findlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honor. Her new novel, My Friend Natalia, published in Finland in March, is proving to be another hotter-than-July title. Elina Ahlbäck, who has an eponymous agency, reports that last week she closed deals for France, Italy, and Sweden and that Denmark, Spain, U.K., and U.S. deals are imminent.

• Atlantic Books was the winner of a seven-way bidding war for a prison diary by filmmaker Chris Atkins, who spent five years in southwest London’s HM Prison Wandsworth, The Bookseller reported. Editorial director Mike Harpley bought U.K. and Commonwealth rights from Gordon Wise at Curtis Brown.

Page to Screen

• Producer David Haring has picked up film rights to Kat Martin’s Texas Trilogy. He will develop the first of the trio, Beyond Reason, for his Tin Res Entertainment company.

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Deal of the Week

Putnam Tackles Youmans and Frank’s ‘Imperfections’
In a world rights preempt, Putnam’s Tara Singh Carlson bought Asha Youmans and Alli Frank’s debut novel, Tiny Imperfections. The publisher said the book, which was “pitched as The Wedding Date meets Class Mom,” revolves around the admissions process for an illustrious San Francisco private school. Putnam elaborated that the novel is a “smart, fun read” that explores “race, single parenthood, and dating at 40.” The authors, who were represented by Liza Fleissig at the Liza Royce Agency, both have backgrounds in education. Youmans, whose father is the well-known civil rights activist TJ Vassar, has been working as a teacher for two decades. Frank is a cofounder of the International Friends School in Bellevue, Wash., which is the first dual-language Friends School in the U.S. Tiny Imperfections is set for spring 2020.

Kemmerer Re-Ups at Bloomsbury
Bestselling YA author Brigid Kemmerer (A Heart So Fierce and Broken) inked a two-book deal with her current publisher, Bloomsbury, for a rumored six-figure sum. The first book in the world rights agreement, tentatively titled Defy the Night, will launch a fantasy series; the second book will be the third entry in the author’s Cursebreaker series. Defy the Night, set in the kingdom of Mandala, follows two disparate characters, Bloomsbury said, “Corrick, a young prince clinging to power, and Tessa, a working-class girl with a rebellious streak.” When a plague descends on the realm and the antidote is controlled by the ruling elite, Bloomsbury went on, “Tessa knows the only way to save her people—the poor—is to break the kingdom from the inside out.” Mary Kate Castellani at Bloomsbury brokered the agreement with Mandy Hubbard at Emerald City Literary Agency. Both books in the deal are set for release in 2021.

Viking Reels in Johnson’s ‘Fisherman’
Viking’s Kathryn Court nabbed world English rights, in an exclusive submission, to Kirk Wallace Johnson’s narrative nonfiction title, The Fisherman and the Dragon. Johnson’s debut, 2018’s The Feather Thief (also published by Viking), was an Amazon Best Book of the Year. Fisherman, which Katherine Flynn at Kneerim & Williams sold, explores a 1981 dispute over fishing rights on the Texas coast. Flynn described the work, which chronicles a showdown between Vietnamese refugees and members of the Ku Klux Klan, as “part pressure-cooker history” and “part courtroom drama.” The book is slated for 2021.

Citadel Gets ‘Highly Sensitive’ Again
Author of the popular parenting book The Highly Sensitive Child, Elaine N. Aron, sold The Highly Sensitive Parent, in a six-figure deal, to Kensington’s Citadel Press imprint. Aron’s series of books on the phenomenon of “high sensitivity” launched with 1996’s The Highly Sensitive Person (also published by Citadel); that title has, per Kensington, sold over 500,000 copies in the U.S. alone. Betsy Amster, who has an eponymous shingle and represented Aron, said this book targets the many parents “who are unusually attuned to their children and who find parenting more stressful than parents who are not highly sensitive would.” Citadel’s Michaela Hamilton acquired world rights to the book, which is planned for an April 2020 release.

Children's Deals Roundup
New projects this week include Jessica Brody's middle grade novel I Speak Boy, about a 12-year-old girl who discovers a magic app that can read boys' thoughts; Shannon Dittemore's Winter, White and Wicked, a YA fantasy pitched as Mad Max: Fury Road meets Snowpiercer; and six books by Molly Bloom, Sanden Totten, and Marc Sanchez, the creators of American Public Media's Brains On!, the science podcast for kids, in a seven-house auction.

Miranda Re-Ups at S&S
Bestselling author Megan Miranda (All the Missing Girls) signed a two-book deal, for high six figures, with her current publisher, Simon & Schuster. Marysue Rucci bought world rights to a pair of currently untitled psychological thrillers from agent Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary. The new books, Davies said, are set for 2021 and 2022, respectively. (Miranda’s forthcoming The Girl from Window Hills, coming out in 2020, is covered under a previous contract.)

Luckerson Lights a ‘Fire’ at RH
Former Time magazine staff writer Victor Luckerson sold his debut, Built from the Fire, to Molly Turpin at Random House. Elias Altman at Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents represented Luckerson, selling North American rights in the deal. RH described the nonfiction book as “a narrative history of Black Wall Street in the historic Greenwood district of Tulsa, Okla., told through the eyes of four generations of one resilient family.” Elaborating, the publisher said Built examines “how black America’s hope and entrepreneurial spirit have been tested over a hundred years” in the face of American social programs and laws ranging from Jim Crow to urban renewal.

Pacat Goes YA for HC
Author of the bestselling adult trilogy Captive Prince, C.S. Pacat sold her YA debut in a three-book deal, for a sum rumored to be in the high-six-figure range. HarperCollins’s Andrew Eliopulos bought North American rights, at auction, to a fantasy trilogy titled Dark Rise. The books are set in an alternate London, explained Pacat’s agent Tracey Adams at Adams Literary. Adams said they follow “the heroes and villains of a long-forgotten war who are being reborn, ushering in a dangerous new age of magic.” Pacat is Australian, and rights to the series have also sold to publishers in Australia/New Zealand, France, Russia, and a handful of other territories. Book one in the trilogy, also titled Dark Rise, is set for fall 2021.

Behind the Deal

From Indie to Short to Feature to Big House
A self-published novel turned hit short film is now at the center of a major publishing deal. Oh, and it’s also set to become a feature-length film. Berkley’s Kate Seaver preempted world rights to Suzanne Allain’s novel Mr. Malcolm’s List, which the author originally released, on her own, in 2009. After posting a screenplay adaptation of the novel on the Black List (a crowdsourced website that pushes highly rated screenplays to the attention of Hollywood executives), Allain was connected with filmmaker Emma Holly Jones, who then directed the short, Mr. Malcolm’s List: Overture. Produced by digital media company Refinery29 (and released on its Shatterbox Films platform, which is dedicated to promoting work by female filmmakers), the short has, to date, been viewed over 900,000 times on YouTube. Now, a feature film adaptation is set, with Jones at the helm making her feature film directorial debut. For Berkley, the novel, which follows an eligible bachelor in 19th-century London, is “a witty romantic comedy with an undeniable, Jane Austen–like appeal.” Berkley is planning a trade paperback edition for summer 2020.

International

• The woman who served as the inspiration for the bestselling novel The Librarian of Auschwitz (published in the U.S. by Holt and in the U.K. by Ebury) sold a memoir to Ebury. According to a report in the Bookseller, world rights (excluding Czech and German) to Dita Kraus’s A Delayed Life were acquired by Ebury publishing director Gillian Green.

• Rebecca Ley, a graduate of the Faber Academy (writing courses hosted by U.K. publisher Faber and Faber), sold her debut novel, For When I’m Gone, to Orion. The Bookseller reported that the “achingly sad” work follows a terminally ill woman writing a guidebook for her husband about navigating life without her.

Page to Screen

• Universal Pictures has optioned Jojo Moyes’s The Giver of Stars (PRH/Dorman, Oct.). The forthcoming novel by the bestselling author, which is based on a true story, is set in Depression-era Kentucky and follows five women who deliver books as part of a traveling library initiative launched by then-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

• George Clooney will be directing and starring in an adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton’s novel Good Morning, Midnight (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2012) for Netflix. The postapocalyptic sci-fi thriller follows a lonely scientist in the Arctic.

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Deal of the Week

Berkley Bets Big on ‘Librarian’
Berkley’s Kate Seaver won North American rights, at auction, to Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray’s work of historical fiction, The Personal Librarian. Seaver spent a rumored high six figures on the book, which is based on the life of Belle da Costa Greene, a famously bohemian woman who, in 1905, was tapped by American financier J. Pierpont Morgan to curate a collection of varied pieces for his then-new Morgan Library. Berkley said the bestselling authors explore how Greene at once “wielded enormous power in her rarified world” but also held a deep secret “that could ruin her carefully crafted identity.” Benedict (The Only Woman in the Room) was represented by Laura Dail at the Laura Dail Literary Agency and Murray (Stand Your Ground) by Liza Dawson at Liza Dawson Associates. Librarian is slated for 2021.

Putnam Nabs Hot U.K. Thriller
After being the subject of an intense auction in the U.K., Allie Reynolds’s thriller Shiver has found a U.S. publisher. Putnam’s Margo Lipschultz preempted North American rights to the novel after a 10-way auction in England closed with British publisher Headline winning the book. Shiver follows five snowboarders invited to a remote resort in the French Alps, where they soon realize they’re trapped. In order to escape, they must, Putnam explained, “finally uncover the truth about the night, 10 years ago, when their frenemy and fiercest competitor vanished without a trace.” Putnam said the novel is ideal for fans of Ruth Ware and Catherine Steadman. Kate Burke at the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency represented Reynolds in the two-book deal.

LBYR Stamps Glock’s ‘Passport’
Sophia Glock sold her graphic memoir Passport, after a six-house auction, to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Susan Rich took world rights to the debut, in which the author discovers, the publisher said, that her parents, foreign diplomats, “are actually spies.” The two-book agreement was brokered by Molly O’Neill at Root Literary, and the book is slated for fall 2021.

Manley Bio to Roaring Brook
Winning a five-house auction, Roaring Brook Press’s Megan Abbate took North American rights to a biography of Effa Manley titled The Lady and the Diamond by Andrea Williams for a rumored six-figure sum. Manley, the only female inductee of the Baseball Hall of Fame, was the owner-manager of Negro League team the Newark Eagles; the book is subtitled The True Story of Effa Manley, the Negro Leagues and the Integration of Major League Baseball. The book, which marks the first biography of Manley for young readers, was sold by Sara Crowe at Pippin Properties; it's set for a fall 2020 release.

Children's Deals Roundup
New projects this week include a prequel in the bestselling Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, set in the world of Panem 64 years before the events of the Hunger Games; a debut picture book by Adib Khorram, winner of the William C. Morris Debut Award and the Asian/Pacific American Award; and a new novel from Kacen Callender (formerly known as Kheryn Callender), author of the Lambda Literary and Stonewall Award-winning Hurricane Child.

One of History's Best-Kept Secrets
This award-winning book unveils the incredible story of the underground prisoner resistance organization at Auschwitz. Prof. Antony Polonsky, chief historian of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, calls it “the definitive study of the topic.” It is a must for every Holocaust and WWII collection. More... (Sponsored)

Fahmy Gets ‘Arranged’ at McMeel
Patty Rice at Andrews McMeel preempted world English rights, for six figures, to cartoonist Huda Fahmy’s comedic graphic memoir That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story. The book, which Rice nabbed 24 hours after receiving the manuscript, is about the author’s experience with romance as a Muslim in America and is written/illustrated in the same style as her Instagram webcomic, @yesimhotinthis. “Being Muslim means there are set guidelines in place for meeting and marrying a future spouse,” Fahmy said. “This book outlines the story of my relationship with love: my first crush, my first suitor, my first proposal, and eventually my first love.” The book, set for a spring 2020 release, was sold by Kathleen Ortiz at New Leaf Literary & Media.

Aslan Takes ‘Baskerville’ to Norton
Bestseller Reza Aslan (Zealot) sold a new book to W.W. Norton titled Baskerville. Alane Mason at Norton took U.S., Canadian, and open market rights to the title from Elyse Cheney, who has an eponymous shingle. Describing the narrative nonfiction title, Norton said it follows Howard Conklin Baskerville, an Ivy League–educated American born in the 1880s who remains the only U.S. citizen to have died fighting for democracy in Iran. Aslan added: “Even today, Howard Baskerville remains a hero among many in Iran, but he’s been largely forgotten in the United States. During a time of heightened animosity between the U.S. and Iran, his remarkable and historic story and his place in Iranian history provide amazing insight into the long, complicated relationship between our two countries.”

Rice Goes Adult for Thomas & Mercer
In a deal for her first adult novel in over five years, bestseller Luanne Rice sold Last Day to Thomas & Mercer’s Liz Pearsons. The six-figure, two-book, world rights agreement was handled by Andrea Cirillo at the Jane Rotrosen Agency. The second book in the deal is currently untitled. Rice has written over 20 New York Times bestsellers and has had numerous titles adapted for television; this novel, the Amazon imprint said, “opens with a murder” but remains “a family story—about sisters in particular.” Last Day is set for early 2020, with the second book in the deal set for 2021.

Behind the Deal

HCI Goes Out of Its Box for Memoir
In a deal that stretches both its wallet and its traditional focus, HCI paid six figures for Carder Stout’s memoir, Lost in Ghost Town. The book, which is subtitled A Therapist’s Journey Through Homelessness, Addiction, Murder, and Fame, will be the Florida-based publisher’s lead title for spring 2020. It will also stand out at a house best known for self-help and the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Stout, who is now a therapist in Hollywood with several celebrity clients, grew up privileged in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood. Despite all of his advantages, he found himself homeless and addicted to crack by his early 30s. Though memoirs may not be in HCI’s wheelhouse, Stout’s subject matter certainly is. HCI began in the late 1970s as a publisher that targeted those working in the field of addiction recovery. Now, given the current opioid addiction crisis, Stout’s agent, Lane Heymont at the Tobias Literary Agency, said this story is more urgent than ever. The book, he explained, “is a raw look at the power of self-medicating” that is particularly timely because it’s set “against the painful backdrop of the substance abuse epidemic currently consuming America.” Allison Janse at HCI acquired world rights at auction.

International

• According to a report in the Bookseller, after a six-way auction, Trapeze (which is part of the Orion Publishing Group in the U.K.) won This Is This Country by siblings Daisy May and Charlie Cooper. May and Cooper are the creative force behind the hit BBC mockumetary series This Country.

• Hachette Children’s Group in the U.K., the Bookseller reported, has acquired a fantasy middle grade trilogy by debut author L.D. Lapinski. The Strangeword Travel Agency “is about a 12-year-old named Flick Hudson who can reach other worlds by jumping through battered old suitcases.” Orion will be copublishing the series with Hachette Livre, and book one is set for an April 2020 release.

Page to Screen

• Adrian McKinty’s forthcoming thriller The Chain (Mulholland, July) has been optioned by Paramount for low seven figures. The outlet said the book is about “a terrifying and meticulous chain letter–like kidnapping scheme that turns parents from victims into criminals.” Shane Salerno at the Story Factory, who reps McKinty, will be producing.

• French author Gerard Villiers’s S.A.S. series (which launched in the mid-1960s and is not in print in the U.S.) has been optioned by Lionsgate, with Michael Fassbender attached as producer and star of a thriller called Malko.

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Deal of the Week

SMP Goes Big for Boarding School Novel
Stanford graduate Emily Layden landed six figures for her debut novel, Legacy, which publisher St. Martin’s Press is touting as a work reminiscent of Curtis Sittenfeld’s 2005 bestseller Prep. The novel, which SMP’s Sarah Cantin preempted less than 24 hours after receiving, follows a varied set of characters at an all-girls boarding school in New England. The girls, SMP explained, must “navigate the social mores of prep school life and the broader, more universal challenges of growing up” while dealing with “an alumna’s troubling allegation and the school’s efforts to ‘manage’ the ensuing crisis.” Lisa Grubka at Fletcher & Company represented the author, selling world rights in the deal.

Putnam Puts Up for Painter’s Debut
After what she described as a “lively” auction, Putnam’s Sally Kim won North American rights to Kate Russo’s debut novel, Super Host. Nicole Aragi represented Russo, a working painter whose art is exhibited in galleries in the U.S. and U.K. The novel follows an artist named Bennett Driscoll who, after both his career and marriage hit the skids, decides to rent rooms in his London home to make ends meet. As Kim elaborated: “A year in, he’s reached Super Host status and obsessively monitors reviews of his home instead of his art. Just as he’s about to lose all motivation for everything he once held dear, three different renters arrive, unwittingly unlocking the parts of Bennett’s life that have been forgotten to him for too long.”

Bishop Re-ups at HarperOne
HarperOne’s Kathryn Hamilton nabbed world rights (excluding the U.K.) to five new books by bestselling self-help guru and self-described “urban philosopher” Gary John Bishop. Hamilton spent seven figures to get the author to pen the multibook contract after his past successes; his first book, Unfu*k Yourself, has, per the HarperCollins imprint, sold over 1.2 million copies in all formats. His second book, Stop Doing That Sh*t, has moved over 100,000 print copies since hitting shelves last month. The first title under this deal, Do the Work, is set for October and will, HarperOne said, “expand on the lessons in Unfu*k Yourself with all new text, questions, prompts, and exercises to help readers put GJB’s no-nonsense self-help into action.” The deal covers two more books—Wise AF (set for 2020) and the relationship guide Bulletproof Love (which does not yet have a publication date)—as well as two currently untitled audio originals. Bishop was represented by Jenny Bent at the Bent Agency.

RH Preempts Jabr’s ‘Symphony’
In a rumored six-figure acquisition, Hilary Redmon at Random House preempted science writer Ferris Jabr’s debut book, The Symphony of Earth. The publisher said Symphony, which Larry Weissman and Sascha Alper at Larry Weissman Literary sold, “will explore a major transformation in our understanding of how life evolves with the planet” and “makes the case that this knowledge can help us restore the planet’s ecosystems.” Redmon took North American rights in the deal. Jabr is a contributor to the New York Times Magazine and has also written for, among other publications, Scientific American, the New Yorker and Harper’s.

Children's Deals Roundup
New projects this week include National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi's Nigeria Jones, about a 16-year-old girl who inadvertently travels back in time to the west coast of Africa in the early 1800s; a debut picture book by Pamela Paul, editor of the New York Times Book Review; and a graphic novel series for early readers by Paige Braddock, who writes the nationally syndicated comic strip Jane's World, and the Stinky Cecil graphic novels for middle-graders.

Tarcher Gets ‘Fully Charged’
Marian Lizzi at TarcherPerigee bought Meaghan B. Murphy’s The Fully Charged Life, for six figures at auction, from Laura Nolan at Aevitas Creative Management. The April 2021-slated book from the executive editor of Good Housekeeping is, the publisher said, “an inspiring and action-oriented guide to cultivating positive energy, reframing obstacles, and focusing on what matters to you most—to fill every day with yay.” Murphy, in addition to her magazine gig, is a regular on various morning shows (including Today and Live with Kelly and Ryan) and also has her own digital series on Better, NBC News’s wellness vertical.

Plath Scholar Lands at Gallery
Alison Callahan at Gallery Books took world English rights to Sylvia Plath scholar Gail Crowther’s Kicking at the Door of Fame. The book, Gallery said, is a “dual biography” of the poets Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. The pair apparently maintained a standing date at the Ritz Carlton where they “drank martinis, ate potato chips, and talked about sex, poetry, and suicide.” The publisher elaborated that the book, which is set for spring 2021, “weaves together the stories of these two women, placing them in their particular historical and cultural moment, and explores the maelstrom of their dramatic lives; the friendship, envy, respect, and ambition.” Callahan bought the book in an exclusive submission from Carrie Kania at the C+W Literary Agency, which is based in the U.K.

Behind the Deal

A Posthumous L'Engle Collection
The adult short story collection that Grand Central Publishing has just signed by A Wrinkle in Time author Madeleine L’Engle is something her granddaughter first glimpsed, at least in part, as a seven-year-old. The posthumous work, which GCP will release in spring 2020, came to the house via Charlotte Jones Voiklis, the aforementioned granddaughter, who found the stories while going through old boxes in L’Engle’s study. Currently titled The Moment of Tenderness, the book will include a mix of published stories and never-before-seen ones. Voiklis said she remembers the early reading of a short story titled “Gilberte Must Play Bach”; the other stories were uncovered after hours spent sifting through material in her grandmother’s “Tower,” a room above the garage where L’Engle wrote. Most of the stories in the collection were penned by L’Engle in the 1940s and ’50s, GCP said, while Voiklis added that some even “started as college papers.” According to GCP, the stories feature themes such as “friendship, isolation, and faith but also include elements as far reaching as satire, science fiction, and horror.” GCP’s Karen Kosztolnyik acquired North American rights to the title from Lisa Erbach Vance at the Aaron Priest Literary Agency.

International

• In a world English rights acquisition, Dan Wells at Canadian publisher Biblioasis bought Emily Urquhart’s Wonder Tales: Essays on Belief. The book was sold by Samantha Haywood at the Transatlantic Agency, who said that its 13 essays “weave personal narratives into larger explorations of belief.”

• After a three-house auction, Bodley Head won U.K. and Commonwealth rights to journalist Julie McDowell’s debut, Attack Warning Red. The Bookseller said the nonfiction work explores “the every-day impact of nuclear war in mid 20th century Britain.” McDowell was represented by Will Francis at Janklow & Nesbit UK, and the book is slated for early 2021.

Page to Screen

• Abdi Nazemian’s just-published YA novel Like a Love Story (Balzer + Bray), about a closeted gay teen arriving in New York City at the height of the AIDS epidemic, has, according to Deadline, been optioned for feature film by Marti Noxon and Jessica Rhoades, the duo who executive produced the adaptation of Sharp Objects.

• Ask Again, Yes (Scribner, May) by Mary Beth Keane, which PW said “traces two families’ shared history over the course of four decades,” has, per Deadline, been optioned by Bruce Cohen and Scott Delman, producers of the Tony-winning play The Ferryman.

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Deal of the Week

Putnam Wins ‘Adulting’ Follow-up
In a three-house auction, Putnam executive editor Michelle Howray won North American rights to Easy Crafts for the Insane by Kelly Williams Brown, whose Adulting has sold more than 350,000 copies, according to Howray. Due in spring 2021, Easy Crafts is, Howray said, “a moving and improbably hilarious memoir about what came next for Kelly since Adulting came out.” She added, “Her father was diagnosed with cancer and she fell into a deep depression that eventually required in-patient treatment.” The deal was brokered by Brandi Bowles at UTA.

Barrier-Busting Ali Stroker Goes to Abrams
Ali Stroker, the first wheelchair-bound actor to be nominated for a Tony for her performance in Oklahoma, has teamed up with Stacy Davidowitz, a Broadway playwright and author, on The Chance to Fly, a middle grade novel about 14-year-old Nat Beacon, a Broadway superfan who uses a wheelchair, and the summer when she overcomes fears to turn her fandom into stardom. Erica Finkel at Abrams won world English rights to Chance at auction, and the book is slated for spring 2021. Hannah Mann at Writers House brokered the deal for world English rights.

Mira Nabs Four from Jude Deveraux
Margaret Marbury at Mira signed a four-book deal with prolific bestselling author Jude Deveraux, whose distinguished 70-plus-book career earned her the Romantic Times Pioneer Award in 2013. Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group negotiated the deal for North American English and audio rights. First up is The Cattleman’s Daughters, a standalone novel, followed by an untitled contemporary women’s fiction novel and two more mysteries in Deveraux’s Medlar series.

Avid Buys ‘Phone Book’
In 2014, Logan Smalley and Stephanie Kent launched the Call Me Ishmael program, in which people are given a phone number and invited to leave anonymous voicemails about favorite books. The voicemails are transcribed using an antique typewriter and the audio is used in videos. Then the duo created an actual rotary phone with an app that allows users to hear those stories about books. Now, the project comes full circle with the Call Me Ishmael Phone Book, which Julianna Haubner at Avid won at auction from Lucy Carson and Molly Friedrich of the Friedrich Agency, who sold the world rights. According to Carson, “It’s designed in homage to the vintage yellow pages that were once in every home.” She added that it’s an interactive directory, with select voicemail transcripts and with “literary Easter eggs” planted along the way.

Children's Deals Roundup
New projects this week include a picture book by National Book Award nominee Lisa Graff; a YA memoir-in-verse by Native American author Eric Gansworth; and an original novel inspired by Disney's forthcoming live-action Mulan film, written by Newbery Honor and Caldecott Honor winner Grace Lin.

Bloomsbury Snags a Feminist Western
At auction, Callie Garnett at Bloomsbury scooped up North American rights to Anna North’s Outlawed, which the publisher described as “a cinematic, triumphant feminist western.” North, a Lambda Literary Award winner and senior Vox reporter, was repped by Julie Barer at the Book Group.

HarperOne and HarperCollins Español to Pub Rosie Mercado Simultaneously
The Girl with the Self Esteem Issues by plus-size model, daytime TV host, and life coach Rosie Mercado will be published simultaneously in English by HarperOne and in Spanish by HarperCollins Español in summer 2020. The book was acquired by Sydney Rogers at HarperOne and Edward Benitez at HarperCollins Español, both of whom will edit. Stephany Evans at Ayesha Pande Literary brokered the deal for world rights.

Behind the Deal

In June 2016, Brock Turner, a Stanford University student, was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus but sentenced to only six months in county jail. In response to the sentencing, the woman, known to the public as Emily Doe, read a 12-page statement in court. Santa Clara County DA Jeff Rosen said that it was “the most eloquent, powerful and compelling piece of victim advocacy that I’ve seen in my 20 years as a prosecutor,” according to Palo Alto Online. Doe’s statement was widely circulated, read in Congress, and translated into more than five languages. Afterward, the judge who presided over the trial was removed from the bench, and California sexual assault laws were amended. Now, Doe has written a memoir, due out in September, about her assault, trial, and recovery, for which Viking editor-in-chief Andrea Schulz bought North American rights from Philippa Brophy, president of Sterling Lord Literistic. U.K. and Commonwealth rights were acquired by Venetia Butterfield, publisher of Viking UK, from Felicity Rubinstein of Lutyens & Rubenstein. “Emily Doe’s experience illuminates a culture built to protect perpetrators and a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable,” Schulz said. “The book will introduce readers to the writer, whose words have already changed their world, and move them with its account of her courage and resilience.”

International

• The Bookseller reported that PRH imprint Hamish Hamilton will publish Jonathan Safran Foer’snonfiction We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast later this year. Simon Prosser bought British and Commonwealth rights from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein, on behalf of Nicole Aragi. We Are the Weather will publish October 10. “Few books could be more urgent than this one,” Prosser told the Bookseller. “And because it is written by Jonathan, it has an emotional depth and resonance that moves us—to feel, to believe, and, crucially, to act.t is a unique combination of head and heart, of thinking and feeling—expressed in language that consistently surprises, delights, and rings true.”

Page to Screen

• Sarah Hogles’s debut romantic comedy, You Deserve Each Other, due out from Putnam in April 2020, has been optioned for development as a feature film by Endeavor Content with Picture Start and Lucky Chap to produce. Alice Lawson at the Gersh Agency brokered the deal on behalf of Jennifer Grimaldi at Chalberg & Sussman.

• Toronto-based production company Pier 21 Films has optioned the film/TV rights to Samra Zafar’s A Good Wife. Samantha Haywood of the Transatlantic Agency brokered the deal for Zafar with Melissa Williamson, president, and Nicole Butler, COO, of Pier 21.

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Amazon Collects Mindy Kaling’s Essays
In summer 2020, Amazon Original Stories will publish a collection of brief essays by Mindy Kaling, actor, producer, and author of the memoirs Why Not Me? and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? The essays, which were acquired by Amazon Original Stories editorial director Julia Sommerfeld, will be available free to Prime and Kindle Unlimited customers. Others can download the collection as a Kindle e-book or Audible audiobook. Richard Abate of 3 Arts Entertainment repped the author.

Feiwel and Friends Goes for ‘Blood’
Jon Yaged, president and publisher of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, acquired world English rights to Blood, a memoir by the Jonas Brothers, who reunited this year and made a major comeback with the single “Sucker.” The book, written with Neil Strauss (The Dir), will be published November 12 under the Feiwel and Friends imprint. Albert Lee at UTA brokered the deal.

Minotaur Is Bullish for Anna Downes
Minotaur executive editor Catherine Richards came out the winner in an auction for The Safe Place, a suspense novel by Anna Downes that was inspired by the author’s work as a housekeeper on a remote French estate 10 years ago. The deal for North American rights was brokered by Hillary Jacobson at ICM. The book, which sold at auction in two other English-language territories, will be out from Minotaur in summer 2020. Croatian, Dutch, German, Hungarian, and Russian rights were also sold.

Children's Deals Roundup
New projects this week include bestselling author Jillian Cantor's (The Lost Letter contemporary YA novel, The Code for Love and Heartbreak, a modern-day retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma; a four-title chapter book series, Book Buddies, from Newbery Honor author Cynthia Lord; and a debut YA novel, from Lambda Literary Writers Retreat Fellow Nita Tyndall, entitled Who I Was with Her.

Macmillan Preempts a Debut—Twice
Jenna Johnson at FSG snatched up North American rights to newly minted NYU MFA graduate Raven Leilani’s debut novel, Luster, from Ellen Levine at Trident Media, who originated the deal. Across the pond, Kishani Widyaratna at Picador Books UK preempted the book for U.K. and Commonwealth rights from Dorothy Vincent.

Behind the Deal

“I’m old-fashioned: I don’t write about sitting presidents, so those looking for a tell-all will be disappointed,” said former secretary of defense Jim Mattis in Random House’s publication announcement of his new book, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead. Instead, he added, “My purpose in writing this book is to convey some of the lessons I learned in 43 years of service, for those who might benefit in the military or in civilian life.” The book, due out July 16, was sold in 2013, long before Mattis became President Trump’s defense secretary, at which point it was set aside. Mattis then resigned in December 2018. “When Random House first acquired General Mattis’s memoir, we were of course drawn to his experience leading millions of troops around the globe,” Random House editor-in-chief Andy Ward told PW. ‘‘But we were also so impressed by his deep reading, across a vast range of subjects, and his lifelong love of books—and his reliance on them as a leadership tool.” Written with Bing West, the author of 10 books about combat, the book takes its title from Mattis’s call sign, Chaos, from his days commanding the Seventh Marine Regiment in the mid-1990s.

International

• Because of BookExpo this week, the newsletter has been abbreviated. We'll be back next week with new Page-to-Screen and International Deals.

Page to Screen

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Deal of the Week

S&S Preempts a YA Debut for Six Figures
In a six-figure preempt, Zareen Jaffery, executive editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, acquired The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed, a debut YA novel that tells the coming-of-age story of a wealthy black teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Rodney King riots. “Christina’s debut novel is a powerful story about a young girl contending with the casual and overt racism of the world around her,” Jaffery said. “The Black Kids conveys so compassionately the experience of double consciousness that so many children feel.” David Doerrer at Abrams Artists Agency repped the author, who was eight years old when the riots occurred. Reed said that, as an adult, she became curious about “black best friends whose blackness was rarely, if ever, addressed—whose concerns, I suspected, more clearly mirrored my own.”

Deal-o-Mania Reigns at Dutton
The deal-making activity at Dutton this past week was supercharged, with three executive editors making four acquisitions. Editor-in-chief John Parsley was impressed, telling PW, “Dutton has a small and selective list of 50 titles, so it’s been amazing for our editors to acquire, in just a few days, such a percentage of what we acquire in a full year. These are discussable, definitive, must-have books, and we’re excited they’ve become part of the Dutton we’re building.” Brent Howard snapped up North American rights to Misfire by NPR investigative reporter Tim Mak from Keith Urbahn and Matt Latimer at Javelin. The publisher described the book as “a groundbreaking work on the NRA.” In a second deal, Howard bought Titans: How Churchill, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Roosevelt Were Made by War, the next book from Phillips Payson O’Brien (The Second Most Powerful Man in the World). Alexa Stark and Ellen Levine at Trident Media brokered the deal for world English rights. At auction, Lindsey Rose won S.K. Barnett’s Back, which the publisher called “an electrifying psychological thriller.” Richard Pine at Inkwell Management negotiated the deal for North American rights. Lastly, turning toward brainy matters, Jill Schwartzman bought North American rights from Margo Beth Fleming at Brockman for The Neuroscience of You by cognitive neuroscientist Chantel Prat.

Morrow Wins Home Depot Cofounder
Todd Shuster and David Granger at Aevitas Creative Management sold at auction Good Company by Arthur Blank, cofounder of Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons football team and Atlanta United soccer team, whom Granger called “an amazing human.” Mauro DePreta at Morrow was the winner of the North American rights for October publication.

MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid Also Goes to Morrow
In another deal at Morrow, Peter Hubbard bought North American rights to The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story by Joy-Ann Reid, a political analyst for MSNBC and host of the network’s AM Joy; the book is set for a June 25 release. Suzanne Gluck at WME brokered the deal for the book that, according to the publisher, examines two questions: “Is Donald Trump running the ‘longest con’ in U.S. history?” and “What will be left of America when he leaves office?”

Children's Deals Roundup
This week’s crop of new projects includes a debut YA novel by playwright Tobly McSmith, set in Texas, about a transgender boy and a cisgender girl; a first picture book by bestselling YA author Jennifer E. Smith (The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight), and a YA novel by Olivia Abtahi pitched as an Iranian-American Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging.

Harper Nabs Jessi Klein
Emily Griffin at Harper won at auction rights to Jessi Klein’s Not What I Was Expecting: Adventures in Motherhood, Marriage, Failure, and Hope, a second collection of interconnected stories from the comedian, star of Netflix’s Big Mouth, and author of You’ll Grow Out of It. World rights were sold by David Kuhn and Nate Muscato at Aevitas Creative Management. The book is set for release in 2021.

37 Ink Picks Up PEN Finalist Jabari Asim
Dawn Davis at 37 Ink picked up North American rights to Jabari Asim’s American Struggle: On Race, Culture and Imagination and Soul Run Wild from Joy Harris, who has an eponymous agency. It is, according to the publisher, “part group biography, part meditation on the overwhelming and sometimes tragic toll that fame, creative genius, and the demands of the music industry extracted from some of the most distinguished male icons of soul, including Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Sam Cooke and others.” Asim was a PEN finalist for We Can’t Breathe: On Black Lives, White Lies, and the Art of Survival and is the author of more than a dozen books for adults and children.

Seal Press Signs Former Jeopardy Winner
Jessica Regel of Foundry Media sold North American rights to Whitewashed: The Racist History of the Feminist Movement by two-time Jeopardy winner and historian ,b>Alysha Rooks to Stephanie Knapp at Seal Press, with Laura Mazer editing. Regel acted on behalf of In This Together Media.

Behind the Deal

In what Fiona Kenshole at Transatlantic called a “fiercely fought” auction, Abrams’s Charlotte Greenbaum won world rights to nonfiction graphic novel Guantanamo Voices by Sarah Mirk, a Nib editor and former Bitch Media editor. The book, which is due out in fall 2020, will feature the true stories of 10 people who spent time at Guantanamo (including armed service members, prisoners, lawyers, and journalists), each illustrated by a different artist. Although Mirk has been reporting on the camp for years, her first trip to Guantanamo was in April. “Guantanamo is intentionally invisible to the American public, so it was a rare opportunity to actually be able to experience the place beyond headlines and distant photos,” she said. She was allowed to take photos but then learned that they can’t be published. “One of the benefits of telling this story in comics is that illustrators can fill in the gap around what’s censored. Instead of publishing the photos of the prison, artists can use them as visual reference, a jumping-off for their illustrations.” The book, Kenshole said, “does not ask the simplistic question of whether Guantanamo is ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Instead, it documents a history that’s happening right now, creating a deep, dynamic, and sincere understanding of how Guantanamo shapes our world.”

International

• Cristóbal Pera, publishing director of Vintage Español, acquired world Spanish-language rights to the audio and e-book editions of Michael Wolff’s Siege: Trump Under Fire, as well as Spanish print rights for the U.S. Vintage Español will publish the e-book June 4, coinciding with the U.S. release, and the trade paper and audio editions on June 11. Siege is the follow-up to Wolff’s Fire and Fury, which has sold over a million hardcover copies in the U.S. since its early 2018 release, according to NPD BookScan.

Page to Screen

• Issa Rae, creator and star of the HBO series Insecure, has optioned Tayari Jones’s Silver Sparrow, about the young daughter of a bigamist, for her own production company, according to the L.A. Times. Dana Spector at CAA, on behalf of Jane Dystel at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, negotiated the deal.

• Elise Primavera’s Auntie Claus will be adapted as one of the first two projects of High School Musical franchise director Kenny Ortega in his recently signed multiyear deal with Netflix. The picture book, which has sold more than half a million copies, follows a girl who is determined to get to the bottom of why her eccentric, Christmas-loving aunt disappears every Christmas.

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