First Three of Twelve from Karp

by Staff, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 9/29/2005

The direction of Jonathan Karp's new Warner Twelve imprint became clearer this morning with the announcement that Karp has signed Christopher Buckley, Christopher Hitchens and Julie Checkoway for the imprint.

Buckley, who has worked with Karp for 12 years, is writing a Boomsday, a comic novel about a female activist who convinces the government to solve the Social Security problem by offering baby boomers an incentive to commit suicide at retirement age. Hitchens will explain why religion does more harm than good in the world in God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion. The book was acquired from former L.A. Times Book Review editor and newly minted agent Steve Wasserman. The Checkoway title, Waiting for Hockney, is the true story of a Baltimore artist who devoted 10 years to creating a life-size portrait of Marilyn Monroe.

Warner Twelve will launch in April 2007, although no pub dates for the newly signed titles has been announced.