Berkley Re-ups White for Hefty Sum
In a seven-figure acquisition, Cindy Hwang at Berkley inked Karen White to a two-book world English deal. White (the Tradd Street series), a bestselling women’s fiction author who has been publishing with Berkley since 2005, will write two standalone hardcover novels through the deal, with the first set for summer 2017, and the second planned for summer 2018. The first novel, Berkley said, will be set in White’s native Atlanta and feature the author’s trademark elements of “family secrets and Southern charm.” Amy Berkower at Writers House represented White in the deal.

Atria Re-ups Mock
Media personality and trans-rights activist Janet Mock sold a new memoir to Atria called Firsts. The book will mark the second memoir by Mock that Simon & Schuster will publish, after her bestselling 2014 debut, Redefining Realness. Entertainment journalist Mock became a trans rights activist in 2011, after coming out publicly as a trans woman, via an article in Marie Claire. Firsts, S&S said, will pick up where Mock’s debut left off, chronicling “the journey of finding her way, her voice, and her purpose in her 20s through a series of first experiences.” The book, which is subtitled A Memoir of the Twenties Experience, is set for 2017. Ryan Harbage at the Fischer-Harbage Agency brokered the world rights deal for Mock.

Nix Takes Latest to Scholastic
Australian children’s author Garth Nix (the Keys to the Kingdom series) sold his latest middle grade novel to David Levithan at Scholastic. Levithan took North American rights to Frogkisser! from Jill Grinberg at Jill Grinberg Literary Management. Levithan said the book, which is scheduled for 2017, is “in the spirit of The Princess Bride and Gregory Maguire.” According to Grinberg, the book is about a princess who, along with her dog, sets out on a quest to “acquire the ingredients to a transmogrification-reversal lip balm needed to change a frog back to a prince, an otter-girl back into an otter, a newt into a boy... and save her kingdom from her villainous ‘step-stepfather.’ ” The book has also been sold to houses in the U.K. (Bonnier/Zaffre Publishing) and Australia (Allen & Unwin).

Lit Agent Sells New Adult Novel

At Entangled, Stacy Cantor Abrams took world rights to Beth Anne Miller’s new adult novel, A Star to Steer Her By. Miller is a junior agent at Writers House, and the book, about a marine biology major who takes a semester at sea hoping to overcome the consequences of a scuba-diving accident, is loosely based on her own experiences. Her agent Josh Getzler at Hannigan, Salky, Getzler said the novel is “very loosely” autobiographical. Once Miller’s heroine gets on board the ship, Getzler elaborated, the character rediscovers her love of the ocean while also falling for a deckhand who is “struggling with his own demons.” A Star to Steer is set for winter 2017.

McManus Starts “Lying” for Delacorte

In a six-figure two-book deal, Delacorte’s Krista Marino preempted North American rights to Karen McManus’s YA debut, One of Us Is Lying. The second book in the agreement, which was brokered by Rosemary Stimola and Allison Remcheck at Stimola Literary Studio, is currently untitled. Stimola said One of Us Is Lying was pitched as “The Breakfast Club meets We Were Liars” and follows the fallout from the murder of a high school student who created a gossip app. The death is witnessed by four other students who all become suspects, and the book, which is told from multiple perspectives, reveals how each teen suspect, Stimola said, “has something to hide.” At press time, auctions for the book were underway in France, Germany, and Spain.

Europa Nabs New Nonfiction From Ferrante
Michael Reynolds at Europa Editions took world English rights to a new nonfiction collection by Italian author Elena Ferrante (the Neapolitan series). The book, called Frantumaglia, was edited by Reynolds, Ferrante, and Ferrante’s Italian editor, Sandra Ozzola Ferri (who is also president of Europa Editions). Europa said the book, which is subtitled An Author’s Journey Told Through Letters, Interviews, and Occasional Writings, traces Ferrante’s “personal and artistic journey, from her early decision to remain out of the public eye through her literary inspirations to feminism, the art and craft of fiction writing, Italian politics and culture, and the role of the writer (and the publisher) in the modern world.” Frantumaglia is set for a fall publication. No agent was involved in the deal.

Terrorist Victim’s Spouse Takes Memoir to Penguin

William Heyward at Penguin Press took North American rights to You Will Not Have My Hatred by Antoine Leiris, whose wife died in the terrorist attack on Paris’s Bataclan Theater in November. Leiris, Penguin said, “became the voice of the tragedy” after stating on Facebook that he refused to hate the men who bombed the theater despite the fact that they murdered his wife (along with more than 80 other people). The post went viral and was shared more than 200,000 times. Leiris is a journalist and now a single father, and the book, Penguin said, tells his story of surviving this tragedy “with courage, moral acuity, and absolute emotional honesty.” He was represented by agent Carole Saudejad.

Briefs
Jill Bialosky at Norton took North American rights to Malene Rydahl’s Happy as a Dane: 10 Reasons Why They are the Happiest People in the World. The book, said Rydahl’s agent Susanna Lea of Susanna Lea Associates, shows “why the Danes are the happiest people in the world—and what we can learn from them.”

Lauren McKenna at Pocket Books took world rights in a three-book deal to mass market paper editions of a romantic suspense series by indie bestseller Liliana Hart. Self-publishing since 2011, Hart, Pocket said, has sold more than four million e-books to date. She was represented in the deal by Steve Axelrod, who has an eponymous shingle.

Balzer + Bray’s Kristen Rens preempted North American rights to Lauren DeStefano’s YA fantasy The Glass Spare, the first title in a planned duology. Barbara Poelle at Irene Goodman Literary represented DeStefano, who is best known for her Chemical Garden series. The Glass Spare is, Poelle said, about “a banished princess who holds the power to crystallize living things—including people—with a touch.” She must decide whether to use her skills “to avenge her banishment or protect her home kingdom.” The book is set for fall 2017.

Correction: An earlier version of this story cited Entangled as an imprint at Abrams. It is not. Also, Stacy Cantor Abrams is the acquiring editor of A Star to Steer Her By, not Stacy Cantor. And Ryan Harbage, the agent who sold Janet Mock's book, was left out of that original item.