Atheneum Re-ups Rhodes-Courter
At Simon & Schuster’s Atheneum Books imprint, Caitlin Dlouhy bought North American rights to the sequel to Ashley Rhodes-Courter’s 2008 memoir, Three Little Words. That book, about the author’s experiences coming up through the foster-care system, was also published by Atheneum and is being adapted into a same-titled movie set for a 2014 release. The new book, Three More Words, follows the author’s life into her late teens and early 20s. (Rhodes-Courter is now 27.) S&S said Three More Words will be published when the film comes out and marketed as both a YA and adult title. Agent Joelle Delbourgo, president of Joelle Delbourgo Associates, brokered the sale.
Graudin Gets ‘Walled’ In at LBYR
Ryan Graudin sold world rights to a stand-alone YA novel called The Walled City to Alvina Ling at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. The deal, which closed at auction, is for three books, with the other works planned as a separate, currently untitled two-book series. Agent Tracey Adams at Adams Literary represented Graudin. The Walled City, scheduled for fall 2014, follows three teenagers who are, LBYR said, “fighting to survive and escape a lawless, walled city.” The fictional city is based on China’s Kowloon Walled City, in Hong Kong, which the author described as “6.5 acres of slum” with “shanties built so high that sunlight could not even reach the streets.” (The structure was originally a military fort.) The novel was jointly acquired by Amber Caravéo at Orion Children’s Books/Indigo for simultaneous publication in the U.K. and the Commonwealth.
GCP Nabs Tale of Michigan Women
Gretchen Young at Grand Central Publishing bought world rights to Mardi Link’s memoir The Drummond Girls: A Story of Eight Women, 20 Years & 1 Wild Island. Link’s debut, Bootstrapper, also a memoir, was published by Knopf in June; that book also chronicled, to an extent, life in Michigan. (It’s subtitle is “From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm.”) Here, Link follows a group of women she befriended over 20 years ago at a northern Michigan bar and with whom she continues to vacation. GCP said the book documents “the passage of time” and the “fierce friendships and personal journeys” of the women. Jane Dystel of Dystel & Goderich handled the sale.
Buddhist Teacher Finds ‘Home’ at FSG
Ethan Nichtern sold The Road Home to Gabriella Doob at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Lisa Weinert at Lisa Weinert Consulting handled the world-rights deal, and the book is set for winter 2015. Nichtern, who is a regular on the media and lecture circuits, founded the Interdependence Project, a nonprofit started in Manhattan’s East Village in 2007. The project is dedicated to meditation, psychology, and other disciplines related to Buddhism. FSG said that in the book, Nichtern “leads readers on an accessible, humorous, and heartfelt journey... to find our true home in the one place we often fear the most: our own minds.”
Glancy Squares ‘Terms’ With B’bury
World rights to Robert Glancy’s debut novel, Terms & Conditions, were bought, in a joint two-book acquisition, by Bloomsbury USA and Bloomsbury UK. Lea Beresford bought the book in the U.S. and Helen Garnons-Williams bought it in the U.K., from agent Mark Stanton at Jenny Brown Associates. Bloomsbury USA is planning a June 2014 release. The novel, the house said, is a “bitingly funny” take on a lawyer who comes to realize that “he’s been living life by all the wrong rules.”