Talking Head Takes His ‘Love’ to SMP
Chris Frantz, a member of the band Talking Heads, sold a memoir titled Remain in Love to St. Martin’s Press. Elizabeth Beier took U.S., Canadian, and open market rights to the book from ICM agents Sloan Harris and Dan Kirschen. Frantz joined Talking Heads at its inception—the group was formed on the Rhode Island School of Design campus in 1973—and is married to fellow band member Tina Weymouth. The book, SMP said, tells of the band’s heady days playing legendary venues in 1970s New York and hobnobbing with everyone from Andy Warhol to the Ramones, and it also charts the author’s “lifelong love affair with creativity and with his wife.”

Journo Lands Six Figures for Debut
Former Glamour contributing editor Megan Angelo sold her debut novel, Followers, to Graydon House in a six-figure deal. Brittany Lavery preempted world English rights to the book, which the publisher described as a mash-up of Station Eleven and Black Mirror, from Stefanie Lieberman at Janklow & Nesbit. The book, scheduled for fall 2019, is set in what the publisher called a “Truman Show-like” and “post-Twitter” world. In this near future, celebrities perform 24 hours a day, actively living their lives in front of the camera. The novel, Graydon House went on, follows “a complicated female friendship that begins in a tiny Manhattan apartment in 2016, spans decades, and is profoundly affected by a catastrophic event that divides the novel’s world into before and after.” In addition to her stint at Glamour, Angelo has written for Elle, Marie Claire, the New York Times, and Slate, among other publications.

Benedict Brings LeBron Bio to S&S
Jeff Benedict, coauthor of 2018 bestseller Tiger Woods, sold a currently untitled biography of NBA superstar LeBron James to Jofie Ferrari-Adler at Simon & Schuster. The world rights agreement, which Richard Pine at Inkwell Management brokered, will see the book released in spring 2021. The book, S&S said, will be “the first major biography” of the three-time NBA championship winner and all-time leading scorer for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Benedict said he was interested in writing about James because he is “fascinated by anyone who achieves the title of ‘greatest in the world’ at something.” He went on: “I am particularly intrigued by what it takes to consistently maintain the top spot in the hypercompetitive field of professional athletics.” Benedict is a special features writer for Sports Illustrated.

Soho Press Nabs Keil’s Debut
For Soho Press, Amara Hoshijo took world English rights to Michelle Ruiz Keil’s debut, a YA novel called All of Us with Wings. Keil, whom the press described as a Latinx author, was represented by Hannah Fergesen at KT Literary. The book, Soho said, is a “fantasy imbued with elements of Aztec mythology”; it follows “a teenage governess living with her young ward Pallas’s glamorous rockstar family in San Francisco.” All of Us is set for summer 2019.

Briefs
Michaela Hamilton at Kensington’s Citadel imprint took world rights to Leslie Rule’s tentatively titled A Tangled Web. Rule (Kill Me Again) will explore the case of Shanna Golyar in the true crime book. Golyar was convicted, in 2017, of killing a woman the press described as her “romantic rival.” (Golyar is serving a life sentence for the crime, but the victim’s body has not been discovered.) The book is set for 2020.

For Da Capo Press, Renee Sedliar bought world rights, at auction, to Allison Moorer’s memoir, Blood. The author is a singer-songwriter and sister of Grammy-winning country music singer Shelby Lynne. The book, the publisher said, explores the author’s “dysfunctional but highly artistic rural Alabama childhood” and builds to “the murder-suicide of her parents” and how that led to “the question of the meaning of inheritance.” Laura Nolan at Aevitas Creative Management represented the author.

For more children’s and YA book deals, see our latest Rights Report.