Zonderkidz Lands an ABC News Correspondent
Barbara Herndon, acquisition editor at Zondervan, bought world rights from Cathy Hemming for The World is Awake, A Celebration of Everyday Blessings—the first book by Emmy-winning journalist Linsey Davis who is a correspondent with ABC News. The picture book is intended for young readers and will follow the adventures of two African American siblings as they encounter “the wonders of life’s blessings,” according to the publisher. Davis will write The World is Awake with poet Joseph Bottum, and Lucy Flemming will do the illustrations. It is scheduled for publication in February 2018.
Former Death Row Inmate Brings Memoir to Sounds True
Henry Dunow of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency sold world rights to Jennifer Y. Brown at Sounds True for High Magick: Teachings from a Death Row Magician by author of 2012’s Life After Death Damien Echols. After 18 years on death row and 10 years in solitary confinement, Echols shares the practices that helped him endure the ordeal. The book is expected to publish in late 2019.
FaithWords Takes the Keys
Greg Johnson at WordServe Literary sold world rights to FaithWords’ Keren Baltzer for 17 Keys to Following Jesus: A Guide to Theology Your Sunday School Never Mentioned by Bonnie Kristian, an exploration of the theological diversity within Christianity that looks at how Christians have answered what it means to follow Jesus over time. It’s slated for publication in May 2018.
IVP Calls for Compassion
With permission from the Henri Nouwen Legacy Trust, Nouwen’s literary executor Sue Mostellar sold Call to a Compassionate Life by Carol Berry to InterVarsity Press’ Cindy Bunch. The book features never-published lectures by Nouwen, a Dutch Catholic priest, from the Compassion of Vincent Van Gogh course he taught at Yale. In it, Berry blends her life experiences together with Nouwen’s spiritual teachings and Van Gogh’s art. Call to a Compassionate Life is expected to be published in winter 2019.
WJK Tackles LGBTQ Issues
Westminster John Knox editor Jessica Miller Kelley took world rights to a new book by Rev. Karen Oliveto, the first openly gay bishop in the United Methodist Church. Tentatively titled Stay at the Table, the book weighs questions about LBGTQ ordination and marriage among members of the divided Methodist denomination. It is expected to be published in late 2018.
Fortress Agrees to ‘Love Big’
Fortress Press acquisition editor Lisa Gruenisen bought world rights to Love Big: The Power of Revolutionary Relationships to Heal the World by Rozella Haydée White. The book, about human connections, makes a case for how passionately loving ourselves and others “can bring us back to center, back to the original goodness and wholeness that the Creator intended,” according to the publisher. It is scheduled for a 2018 release.
