MacNicol Starts “Driving” to S&S
In her first acquisition as an editor at Simon & Schuster, Christine Pride preempted world English rights to journalist Glynnis MacNicol’s memoir Good Driving. The author, who has written for such publications as the New York Times and the Guardian and who cofounded the female networking platform TheLi.st, was represented by agents Molly Friedrich and Lucy Carson. In the book, which is slated for spring 2018, MacNicol ruminates on turning 40. Specifically, Pride said, the author gives a voice to “a pioneering generation of women who are single and childless,” and considers “the challenges and exhilarating freedoms of a life lived outside of the accepted but outdated conventions of adulthood.”
Da Capo Gets “Nerdy” with Posehn
Stand-up comedian, writer (Marvel’s Deadpool), and actor (The Sarah Silverman Show, Mr. Show) Brian Posehn sold a humorous memoir to Ben Schafer at Da Capo Press. Schafer took world rights from Marc Gerald at United Talent Agency, working on behalf of Dave Rath at Generate. In Forever Nerdy! Or How a Man-Child Lived His Dreams and Stayed Nerdy and Metal, Posehn recounts what the publisher described as “hilarious stories of eternal nerd-dom,” chronicling what it was like coming of age as a nerd before it was considered hip to be one. The book is slated for spring 2018.
Reinhart Pops Up at Disney
Pop-up creator and illustrator Matthew Reinhart closed a world rights deal with Disney Publishing Worldwide for three new pop-up books: Pixar: A Pop-Up History, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and History of Mickey Mouse. Reinhart (Star Wars: The Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy) is a well-known paper engineer, and the publisher said he will bring his signature style to these books, which, Disney added, will be “gravity-defying pops.” Wendy Lefkon and Alexis Banyon at Disney brokered the agreement with agent Emily van Beek at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management. The first book in the deal is set for fall 2017.
Viking Picks Up Noyes’s ‘Bones’
In a world English rights acquisition, Alex Ulyett at Viking bought Deborah Noyes’s middle grade nonfiction work, Hatsful of Bones. Jill Grinberg, who has an eponymous shingle, brokered the deal, and her agency said the book is a narrative account of two rival paleontologists who are competing to “uncover more and more monstrous fossils in the newly opened Wild West.” The book is slated for a fall 2018 publication.
Putnam Lands Lit Agent’s Picture Book
After a four-publisher auction, Jen Besser at G.P. Putnam won North American rights to Come with Me, written by literary agent Holly McGhee and illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre. McGhee is a children’s agent at Pippin Properties and Lemaitre is a Belgian artist, and the book, Putnam said, chronicles their experiences of two different terrorist attacks, hers of 9/11 and his of the lockdown in Brussels this past spring. Specifically, the book follows a girl who, in the wake of a terrorist attack, must learn, the publisher explained, “that taking even the tiniest step forward, as insignificant as it may seem, can make a difference.” Elena Giovinazzo at Pippin Properties brokered the sale with Besser, and the book is set for fall 2017.
NOTE: Due to publisher error, an earlier version of this story neglected to mention that agent Lucy Carson represented Glynnis MacNicol, along with agent Molly Friedrich, in selling her memoir Good Driving.
