DEAL OF THE WEEK
Simon & Schuster Buys Bibi’s Autobio
Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sold his autobiography to Jonathan Karp at Simon & Schuster. Karp took world rights to Bibi: My Story from lawyer Gary Ginsberg on an exclusive submission. The book, which is set for November 22, will be released through S&S’s Threshold imprint and will be edited by Max Meltzer. It will, the publisher said, recount Netanyahu’s youth in Israel and America, “the prominent legacy of his family in the birth of Zionism, his service in an elite unit of the Israeli Defense Forces, and the devastating impact of the death of his brother Yoni, who was killed while leading his men in the historic rescue of 102 hostages in Entebbe, Uganda.” S&S added that the title, from Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, will stand as “required reading for anyone with an interest in the past and future of the Jewish state and the Jewish people.”
Smith ‘Straight’ Talks for 13A
For Gallery Books’ 13A imprint, Charles M. Suitt bought world rights to the memoir Straight Shooter by Stephen A. Smith, a sports pundit and coanchor of ESPN’s First Take. In the book, 13A said, Smith tells his story of “growing up poor in Queens” as “the son of Caribbean immigrants and the youngest of six children.” He details how he became a sports reporter for the Daily News, covering the paper’s high school beat, and worked his way up to a job at ESPN, where he was hired, fired, then rehired. “He pulls back the curtain on life beyond the set,” the publisher added, “with authentic stories about his negligent father, his loving mother, being a father himself, his life-threatening battle with Covid, and what he really thinks about politics and social issues.” Straight Shooter was sold by Rushion McDonald at 3815 Media and is slated for January 2023.
Sherbrooke Lands at Pegasus
Jessica Case at Pegasus Books took world English rights to The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly by Katherine Sherbrooke. The novel, set for April 2023, is about “identity and chosen families,” the publisher said, “as Aster, a model and aspiring designer in 1940s Hollywood, makes a secret decision that threatens to upend her daughter’s life decades later.” Michael Carlisle at InkWell Management represented Sherbrooke, who is a former entrepreneur and author of such novels as Fill the Sky and Leaving Coy Hill.
Morrow Wins Sue’s Debut
After a 10-bidder auction, William Morrow won two books by Natalie Sue, including her debut, I Hope This Finds You Well. Morrow’s Julia Elliott negotiated the North American rights agreement with Root Literary’s Melanie Figueroa and Taylor Haggerty. I Hope This Finds You Well, the publisher said, follows an office worker who, after being caught writing negative emails about her coworkers, is mistakenly granted access to her colleagues’ inboxes and then “decides to turn the tables in the face of impending layoffs.” Morrow is comparing the novel, slated for summer 2024, to works like Anxious People and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Sue, a Persian British Canadian, lives in Calgary. At press time, the novel had sold in numerous foreign auctions, with sales concluded in the U.K., Italy, and Germany.
Penguin Buys Jonusas’s ‘Candy’
For Penguin, Terezia Cicel bought North American rights to American Candy by Susan Jonusas. Jonusas, author of this year’s critically lauded Hell’s Half-Acre, tells the story of Juanita Slusher, a mid-20th-century burlesque dancer who went by the stage name Candy Barr. The book, Penguin said, details how Barr “fought her way out of sex trafficking as a teenager” and “became a notorious performer who fraternized with the elite of golden era Hollywood as well as the gangsters of L.A.’s seedy underbelly.” It shows how Slusher’s life was “marked by profound injustice at the hands of a society that both adored and despised her.” Georgina Capel at Georgina Capel Associates represented Jonusas.
