‘Striped Pajama’ Author Inks Two-Book Deal
John Boyne, author of the 2006 crossover bestseller The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Random House/Fickling), struck a two-book deal with Laura Godwin at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. Eric Simonoff at William Morris Endeavor sold U.S. rights, and the first book—both will be middle-grade titles—Stay Where You Are and Then Leave, is slated for spring 2014. Stay, set during World War I, is, the publisher said, “told through the uncannily observant eye of a young boy.”
Mira Keeps Mallery for Massive Sum
Tara Parsons at Harlequin’s Mira imprint inked bestseller Susan Mallery to a mid-seven-figure, six-book, world-rights deal, keeping the author at her current publisher for the foreseeable future. Annelise Robey at the Jane Rotrosen Agency brokered the agreement, which is for two women’s fiction titles that will launch a new series, as well as four more Fool’s Gold mass market romance titles. The new series will be set in the fictional California town of Mischief Bay. The commitment on the Fool’s Gold titles will ensure that the existing series continues until at least 2015.
S&S Re-Ups Pyper
With his March-released The Demonologist currently on bestseller lists, Simon & Schuster has signed Canadian novelist Andrew Pyper to a new two-book deal. Stephanie Cabot at the Gernert Company, working on behalf of Toronto-based agent Anne McDermid, sold North American rights to S&S’s Sarah Knight. The first book under contract, Ash, is about a successful author who, after nearly being killed in an accident as a teenager, writes a memoir confirming the existence of Heaven. But, haunted by the ghost of his sister Ashleigh (who died in the accident years ago), the protagonist, S&S said, must visit the afterlife to “find out what happened to the siblings on that fateful day, and to silence Ash once and for all.” Pyper is the author of six novels, and The Demonologist has been optioned for film by Robert Zemeckis’s company, ImageMovers.
Garwood Stays At Dutton
Bestselling romance author Julie Garwood has signed a new three-book deal with Brian Tart at Dutton. (Garwood’s last two books were also published by the Penguin imprint.) Garwood is, Dutton noted, one of the most successful authors writing in the genre today, with over 36 million books in print. The first of the three books in the deal, Hotshot, is scheduled for August 6. Andrea Cirillo at the Jane Rotrosen Agency represented Garwood, selling world English rights in the deal. At Dutton, Leslie Gelbman will be editing Garwood.
Soft Skull Nabs ‘PW’ Editor’s Debut
PW’s own Mike Harvkey sold his debut novel, In the Course of Human Events, to Liz Parker at Counterpoint’s Soft Skull Press imprint. Bill Clegg at William Morris Endeavor represented Harvkey, selling North American rights in the deal. Harvkey is the deputy fiction reviews editor at the magazine, and the novel, which is scheduled for April 2014, is a coming-of-age story set in the Midwest. Soft Skull said the book presents a contemporary view of a region “battered and bruised by the economic collapse” in which the protagonist, “an aimless and frustrated young man,” falls under the sway of his antigovernment, extremist martial arts teacher. Harvkey has written for a number of publications including Nylon, Trunk and True/Slant.
Allen Bio to SMP
David Evanier, author of Making the Wiseguys Weep (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998), sold a biography of Woody Allen to Elizabeth Beier at St. Martin’s Press. The currently untitled book, which will be the first in-depth examination of the filmmaker, is timed for 2016, to coincide with Allen’s 80th birthday. Andrew Blauner at Blauner Books Literary Agency sold world rights to the book, which SMP said “repositions some of [Allen’s] fans’ longtime assumptions about [him] and his connection to his characters.”
TV Animator to HC
Emmy Award–winning animator (for Disney, Nickelodeon, and others) Dave Wasson sold his debut picture book, The Big Ideas of Buster Bickles, to David Linker at HarperCollins Children’s Books. Linker preempted world rights to two books, which will begin a new series, from agent Jennifer Mattson at Andrea Brown Literary. The series, Mattson said, “features the high-octane adventures of an imaginative kid, Buster Bickles, as he explores the capabilities of his uncle’s amazing ‘What-If Machine.’ ” Mattson added that the series was pitched as “a boy-friendly picture book with a Bob Shea or Tom Lichtenheld vibe.” The first book is planned for winter 2015, and the second for winter 2016.
Knopf Gets Stylish in Paris
Shelley Wanger at Knopf took North American rights, at auction, to the illustrated book, How to Be a Parisian Wherever You Are in the World. Agent Susanna Lea at Susanna Lea Associates represented authors Anne Berest, Audrey Diwan, Caroline de Maigret, and Sophie Mas, in the deal. Lea said the book, which is written by four “quintessentially chic” denizens of the City of Light, “unlocks the myth of the Parisienne.”
