The first day of the Frankfurt Book Fair saw a flurry of interest in debut novels, including one by a veteran of the book industry. That veteran is Jonathan Galassi, publisher and CEO of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, who just sold his first novel to Knopf. The book, Muse, pulls from Galassi's own life and follows a book editor who, Knopf explained, "is caught in the middle of the decades-long rivalry between two publishing lions over the work of a beautiful, iconic female poet."
Agent Melanie Jackson is representing Galassi, and called the book "at once satiric and warm-hearted." Knopf bought U.S. rights, and the book has also sold in Australia, Canada, Italy, and Holland, with offers in from houses in Germany, Spain, and the U.K. Knopf is planning to publish Muse in 2015. Galassi has published a number of books of poetry, as well as translations.
