Regan Arts Runs with Triathlete’s Memoir
Jordana Tusman at Regan Arts took world rights to Iron Cowboy, James Lawrence’s memoir, in a deal brokered by Linda Konner at the Linda Konner Literary Agency. Lawrence, who is known as the Iron Cowboy, completed the 50/50/50 Challenge last summer—finishing 50 Ironman competitions in 50 states over a period of 50 days. He is writing the book, which is scheduled for spring 2017, with sports writer Matt Fitzgerald (Racing Weight). Regan Arts said that, in addition to recounting Lawrence’s extreme feat, the book will also attempt “to inspire readers to achieve their own personal goals of all kinds.”
Barron Takes New Noir to Putnam
Laird Barron (The Light Is the Darkness and The Croning) sold two novels in a new noir series to Sara Minnich at G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Barron, who was represented by Janet Reid at FinePrint Literary Management, has won two Shirley Jackson awards. The books, which Minnich took world rights to, follow a former mob enforcer who has become a PI. The first book is set for summer 2017.
Arcade Nabs Two by South Korean Novelist
In a two-book North American–rights deal, Arcade’s Maxim Brown bought two novels by South Korean novelist Hye young Pyun, who has won multiple awards, most recently the Hyundai Literary Award in 2015. The first book in the deal, Ashes and Red (which was published in South Korea in 2010), is Pyun’s debut, and Arcade will release it in the fall; the second book in the deal, The Hole (which was recently published in South Korea, where it is currently a bestseller), will be released by Arcade in summer 2017. Agent Barbara Zitwer, who has an eponymous shingle, brokered the sale and described Pyun’s work as “unique explorations of the quiet menace beneath the surface of our modern lives.” Ashes and Red is, Zitwer said, a Kafkaesque tale about “a man who is a stranger in a strange world”; it is set in a place called City Y, in Country C. The Hole is about a 40-something college professor who, after coming out of a coma, finds out the car accident he was in killed his wife and left him paralyzed and mute.
Thorne Takes New YA to Dial
Jenn Marie Thorne (The Wrong Side of Right) sold world English rights to a new romantic YA novel to Jess Garrison at Dial. The currently untitled book, which is set for 2018, was represented by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management. Set over the course of a sweltering summer in New York City, the novel, the agency said, is about the daughter of a well-known composer who “falls for a teen prodigy and must face down her lost dreams and the classical music establishment to fight for her own chance at happiness.”
Hallowell Explores ‘Crazy’ at Bloomsbury
Psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell sold a memoir called Because I Come from a Crazy Family to Bloomsbury’s Nancy Miller. Hallowell, the publisher said, is credited with introducing the public to attention deficit disorder with his 1994 book Driven to Distraction (Pantheon). In his memoir he shares the difficult family circumstances—a psychotic mother, alcoholic father, and abusive alcoholic stepfather—that shaped his career and life. Bloomsbury went on: “At age 11, a voice out of nowhere told Hallowell that he should become a psychiatrist; this is the story of how he came to fulfill the advice that any psychiatrist at the time would have diagnosed as a form of psychosis.” Hallowell was represented in the deal by James Levine at Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of author Hye young Pyun.
