Bloomsbury Buys bin Laden Book
In a world rights acquisition, George Gibson at Bloomsbury bought Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy’s The Exile. The book, subtitled The Explosive Inside Story of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Flight, tells the story, Bloomsbury said, of the decade Osama bin Laden spent in hiding following the attacks on 9/11. It chronicles, the publisher elaborated, how bin Laden “evaded intelligence services and Special Forces units” and is told through the eyes of an array of witnesses, including members of bin Laden’s family and “his deputies and military strategists, [as well as] Al Qaeda wives and children.” The authors, both journalists, worked for the Sunday Times and the Guardian and have written previous books together, including The Siege: 68 Hours Inside the Taj Hotel (Penguin, 2013). The Exile is slated for May 2017.
Tony-Winner Shange Takes Latest to Davis
For her 37 Ink imprint at Simon & Schuster, Dawn Davis nabbed world rights, at auction, to Ntozake Shange’s poetry collection Enuf. The author, best known as a playwright—her most frequently produced work is For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow Is Enuf—has won a number of awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Tony Award, and an Emmy. She was represented by Rob McQuilkin and Lexi Wangler at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin, and the book, McQuilkin said, will “draw from” six of Shange’s previous poetry collections, as well as her aforementioned play. Enuf is scheduled for a November 2017 release.
Gratton Takes ‘Slaughter’ to McElderry
Ruta Rimas at Simon & Schuster’s Margaret McElderry Books took world rights, in a preempt, to a YA novel by Tessa Gratton (the Blood Journals series) called Slaughter Moon. Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary, who represented Gratton, described the book as a “dark fairy tale for the 21st century.” The title is set in a remote town called Three Graces, where, every seven years, a male teen is essentially sacrificed—he’s sent into a neighboring forest to face the devil—in order to maintain the peaceful status quo. Rennert explained that this tradition is thrown into whack when “three teens with their own complicated loyalties, loves, and motives” head into the forest. Once in the woods, “the devil they find is not the one they expect, and the secrets and lies they uncover turn the town and their hearts inside out.” Slaughter Moon is set for summer 2018.
CSNY Revealed at Da Capo
Rock journalist David Browne sold a biography of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young to Ben Schafer at Da Capo Press. The book, currently untitled, will join a lengthy list of biographies that the author, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, has written of rock bands and rock stars, including Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead. Slated for spring 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the release of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s self-titled debut album, the book will, Da Capo said, stand as the first “true narrative” biography of a band that “came to represent the highs and lows of the ’60s dream.” Schafer took world rights in the deal from Erin Hosier at Dunow Carlson & Lerner.
Fine Gets ‘Wild’ at Harper
Harper’s Erin Wicks won North American rights, at auction, to Julia Fine’s debut novel, What Should Be Wild. Stephanie Delman at Sanford J. Greenburger, who brokered the deal, called the book a “modern gothic fairy tale” that explores “the power of folklore, coming of age as a woman, and the impact of loss.” The novel follows a girl named Maise Cothay who, Delman said, was “born from the womb of her dead mother” and has “the power to kill and restore life with her slightest touch.” Having been locked away in her family’s estate, Maise finally ventures outside upon the death of her guardian, and winds up entering an enchanted forest. Fine teaches writing at DePaul University and is a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago’s M.F.A. program.
Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to the town in Slaughter Moon as Three Gates; it's called Three Graces.
