DEAL OF THE WEEK
Nobel Laureate Lands at Oprah Imprint
With preempt, Bryn Clark at Flatiron’s An Oprah Book imprint bought Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege’s The Power of Women. Susanna Lea at Susanna Lea Associates brokered the world English rights agreement. The nonfiction book by the Congolese gynecological surgeon examines, Flatiron said, “what humanity can learn from the stories of women who have endured sexual violence, how we can begin to prevent indifference within our communities, and the role global leadership can take in moving forward.” The Power of Women is slated for a 2021 publication.
FROM THE U.S.
U.K. Editor’s Debut Snapped Up by Holt
Kasim Ali’s debut novel, Good Intentions, was nabbed in a preempt by Holt. North American rights to the title were bought by Barbara Jones and Ruby Rose Lee on the heels of what the Macmillan imprint described as a “heated auction” in the U.K., where the book sold to Fourth Estate. Ali, a 25-year-old assistant editor at Penguin Random House UK, was represented by Juliet Pickering at the London-based shingle Blake Friedmann. The book follows a young British man of Pakistani descent who, Holt said, “has kept his relationship with a Black woman secret from his family for far too long and is caught at a breaking point.” It offers “a brilliant and overdue new perspective on millennial relationships in the face of racism and immigrant obligation.”Good Intentions is set for spring 2022.
McKenzie Does Double at Atria
Atria’s Kaitlin Olson took world English rights to two new novels by You Can’t Catch Me author Catherine McKenzie. The first book is titled Six Weeks to Live and follows, Atria said, a woman with a devastating cancer diagnosis who “comes to believe she may have been poisoned, casting suspicion on her estranged husband, adult triplets, and even herself.” The second book, Please Join Us, is about, the publisher explained, “a midcareer lawyer who joins a secretive women’s career development group and soon suspects its members may have more sinister intentions.” The deal was brokered by Abigail Koons at Park & Fine Literary and Media. You Can’t Catch Me was recently optioned by Paramount Television Studios.
Atria Haunts Fawcett’s ‘Octagon House’
In another Atria deal, editor Loan Le preempted world rights to Jennifer Fawcett’s The Octagon House. Le compared the book to fiction by Jennifer McMahon and the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House. It’s about a woman who returns to her hometown following her friend’s attempted suicide in a local haunted house, where, Le said, “a traumatic incident shattered their lives 20 years ago.” She added, “It’s a story about not only supernatural hauntings, but also the trauma and pain that haunt us from childhood to adulthood.” Victoria Marini at Irene Goodman represented Fawcett.
Booker Nominee Crosses Pond to B’bury
Daniel Loedel at Bloomsbury preempted North American rights to the Booker-longlisted novel Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze. Sally Harding at CookeMcDermid brokered the sale on behalf of Jo Unwin at Jo Unwin Literary. The autobiographical novel, Bloomsbury said, is “written in a unique lyrical slang” and unpacks the life of “a young man straddling two cultures: the university where he is studying English literature and the disregarded world of London gang warfare.”
Hogarth Takes Khabushani’s Debut
Our New Names, the debut novel by Khashayar Joshua Khabushani, was acquired at auction by Hogarth’s Parisa Ebrahimi. Bill Clegg at the Clegg Agency sold North American rights. The book, Hogarth said, is “about the powerful bonds that make and break an Iranian American family, and the journey a son must make in order to find his place in the world.” Khabushani has an MFA from Columbia.
